Methods of producing nucleic acid ligands

ABSTRACT

The present invention includes methods for the identification and production of improved nucleic acid ligands based on the SELEX process. Also included are nucleic acid ligands to the HIV-RT protein identified according to the methods described therein.

This application is a continuation application of co-pending U.S.application Ser. No. 08/442,062, filed May 16, 1995, entitled "Methodsof Producing Nucleic Acid Ligands," now issued as U.S. Pat. No.5,595,887. U.S. application Ser. No. 08/442,062 is a divisional of U.S.application Ser. No. 07/964,624, filed Oct. 21, 1992, entitled "NucleicAcid Ligands to HIV-RT and HIV-1 Rev," now issued as U.S. Pat. No.5,496,938. U.S. application Ser. No. 07/964,624 is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 07/714,131, filed Jun.10, 1991, entitled "Nucleic Acid Ligands," now issued as U.S. Pat. No.5,475,096 and U.S. application Ser. No. 07/536,428, filed Jun. 11, 1990,entitled "Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment,"now abandoned.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Described herein are methods for identifying and producing nucleic acidligands. Nucleic acid ligands are double or single stranded DNA or RNAspecies that bind specifically to a desired target molecule. The basisfor identifying nucleic acid ligands is a method that is called SELEX,an acronym for Systematic Evolution of Ligands by for EXponentialenrichment. The methods of the present invention include means foranalyzing and applying the information learned from the SELEX method tocreate an improved nucleic acid ligand for the selected target. Thesemethods include computer modeling, boundary determination methods andchemical modification methods. According to the methods of thisinvention it is possible to determine: 1) which nucleic acid residues ofa nucleic acid ligand are critical in binding to the selected target; 2)which nucleic acid residues affect the structural conformation of thenucleic acid ligand; and 3) what is the three-dimensional structure ofthe nucleic acid ligand. This information allows for the identificationand production of improved nucleic acid ligands that have superiorbinding capacity to the target as well as enhanced structural stability.This information may also be utilized to produce non-nucleic acid orhybrid-nucleic acid species that also function as ligands to the target.The methods of the present invention further provide an analysis of thetarget species that can be used in the preparation of therapeutic and/ordiagnostic methods.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Most proteins or small molecules are not known to specifically bind tonucleic acids. The known protein exceptions are those regulatoryproteins such as repressors, polymerases, activators and the like whichfunction in a living cell to bring about the transfer of geneticinformation encoded in the nucleic acids into cellular structures andthe replication of the genetic material. Furthermore, small moleculessuch as GTP bind to some intron RNAs.

Living matter has evolved to limit the function of nucleic acids to alargely informational role. The Central Dogma, as postulated by Crick,both originally and in expanded form, proposes that nucleic acids(either RNA or DNA) can serve as templates for the synthesis of othernucleic acids through replicative processes that "read" the informationin a template nucleic acid and thus yield complementary nucleic acids.All of the experimental paradigms for genetics and gene expressiondepend on these properties of nucleic acids: in essence, double-strandednucleic acids are informationally redundant because of the chemicalconcept of base pairs and because replicative processes are able to usethat base pairing in a relatively error-free manner.

The individual components of proteins, the twenty natural amino acids,possess sufficient chemical differences and activities to provide anenormous breadth of activities for both binding and catalysis. Nucleicacids, however, are thought to have narrower chemical possibilities thanproteins, but to have an informational role that allows geneticinformation to be passed from virus to virus, cell to cell, and organismto organism. In this context nucleic acid components, the nucleotides,must possess only pairs of surfaces that allow informational redundancywithin a Watson-Crick base pair. Nucleic acid components need notpossess chemical differences and activities sufficient for either a widerange of binding or catalysis.

However, some nucleic acids found in nature do participate in binding tocertain target molecules and even a few instances of catalysis have beenreported. The range of activities of this kind is narrow compared toproteins and more specifically antibodies. For example, where nucleicacids are known to bind to some protein targets with high affinity andspecificity, the binding depends on the exact sequences of nucleotidesthat comprise the DNA or RNA ligand. Thus, short double-stranded DNAsequences are known to bind to target proteins that repress or activatetranscription in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Other shortdouble-stranded DNA sequences are known to bind to restrictionendonucleases, protein targets that can be selected with high affinityand specificity. Other short DNA sequences serve as centromeres andtelomeres on chromosomes, presumably by creating ligands for the bindingof specific proteins that participate in chromosome mechanics. Thus,double-stranded DNA has a well-known capacity to bind within the nooksand crannies of target proteins whose functions are directed to DNAbinding. Single-stranded DNA can also bind to some proteins with highaffinity and specificity, although the number of examples is rathersmaller. From the known examples of double-stranded DNA bindingproteins, it has become possible to describe the binding interactions asinvolving various protein motifs projecting amino acid side chains intothe major groove of B form double-stranded DNA, providing the sequenceinspection that allows specificity.

Double-stranded RNA occasionally serves as a ligand for certainproteins, for example, the endonuclease RNase III from E. coli. Thereare more known instances of target proteins that bind to single-strandedRNA ligands, although in these cases the single-stranded RNA often formsa complex three-dimensional shape that includes local regions ofintramolecular double-strandedness. The amino-acyl tRNA synthetases bindtightly to tRNA molecules with high specificity. A short region withinthe genomes of RNA viruses binds tightly and with high specificity tothe viral coat proteins. A short sequence of RNA binds to thebacteriophage T4-encoded DNA polymerase, again with high affinity andspecificity. Thus, it is possible to find RNA and DNA ligands, eitherdouble- or single-stranded, serving as binding partners for specificprotein targets. Most known DNA binding proteins bind specifically todouble-stranded DNA, while most RNA binding proteins recognizesingle-stranded RNA. This statistical bias in the literature no doubtreflects the present biosphere's statistical predisposition to use DNAas a double-stranded genome and RNA as a single-stranded entity in theroles RNA plays beyond serving as a genome. Chemically there is nostrong reason to dismiss single-stranded DNA as a fully able partner forspecific protein interactions.

RNA and DNA have also been found to bind to smaller target molecules.Double-stranded DNA binds to various antibiotics, such as actinomycin D.A specific single-stranded RNA binds to the antibiotic thiostreptone;specific RNA sequences and structures probably bind to certain otherantibiotics, especially those whose functions is to inactivate ribosomesin a target organism. A family of evolutionary related RNAs binds withspecificity and decent affinity to nucleotides and nucleosides (Bass, B.and Cech, T. (1984) Nature 308:820-826) as well as to one of the twentyamino acids (Yarus, M. (1988) Science 240:1751-1758). Catalytic RNAs arenow known as well, although these molecules perform over a narrow rangeof chemical possibilities, which are thus far related largely tophosphodiester transfer reactions and hydrolysis of nucleic acids.

Despite these known instances, the great majority of proteins and othercellular components are thought not to bind to nucleic acids underphysiological conditions and such binding as may be observed isnon-specific. Either the capacity of nucleic acids to bind othercompounds is limited to the relatively few instances enumerated supra,or the chemical repertoire of the nucleic acids for specific binding isavoided (selected against) in the structures that occur naturally. Thepresent invention is premised on the inventors' fundamental insight thatnucleic acids as chemical compounds can form a virtually limitless arrayof shapes, sizes and configurations, and are capable of a far broaderrepertoire of binding and catalytic functions than those displayed inbiological systems.

The chemical interactions have been explored in cases of certain knowninstances of protein-nucleic acid binding. For example, the size andsequence of the RNA site of bacteriophage R17 coat protein binding hasbeen identified by Uhlenbeck and coworkers. The minimal natural RNAbinding site (21 bases long) for the R17 coat protein was determined bysubjecting variable-sized labeled fragments of the mRNA tonitrocellulose filter binding assays in which protein-RNA fragmentcomplexes remain bound to the filter (Carey et al. (1983) Biochemistry22:2601). A number of sequence variants of the minimal R17 coat proteinbinding site were created in vitro in order to determine thecontributions of individual nucleic acids to protein binding (Uhlenbecket al. (1983) J. Biomol. Structure Dynamics 1:539 and Romaniuk et al.(1987) Biochemistry 26:1563). It was found that the maintenance of thehairpin loop structure of the binding site was essential for proteinbinding but, in addition, that nucleotide substitutions at most of thesingle-stranded residues in the binding site, including a bulgednucleotide in the hairpin stem, significantly affected binding. Insimilar studies, the binding of bacteriophage Qβ coat protein to itstranslational operator was examined (Witherell and Uhlenbeck (1989)Biochemistry 28:71). The Qβ coat protein RNA binding site was found tobe similar to that of R17 in size, and in predicted secondary structure,in that it comprised about 20 bases with an 8 base pair hairpinstructure which included a bulged nucleotide and a 3 base loop. Incontrast to the R17 coat protein binding site, only one of thesingle-stranded residues of the loop is essential for binding and thepresence of the bulged nucleotide is not required. The protein-RNAbinding interactions involved in translational regulation displaysignificant specificity.

Nucleic acids are known to form secondary and tertiary structures insolution. The double-stranded forms of DNA include the so-called Bdouble-helical form, Z-DNA and superhelical twists (Rich, A. et al.(1984) Ann. Rev. Biochem. 53:791-846). Single-stranded RNA formslocalized regions of secondary structure such as hairpin loops andpseudoknot structures (Schimmel, P. (1989) Cell 58:9-12). However,little is known concerning the effects of unpaired loop nucleotides onstability of loop structure, kinetics of formation and denaturation,thermodynamics, and almost nothing is known of tertiary structures andthree dimensional shape, nor of the kinetics and thermodynamics oftertiary folding in nucleic acids (Tuerk, C. et al. (1988) Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. USA 85:1364-1368).

A type of in vitro evolution was reported in replication of the RNAbacteriophage Qβ. Mills, D. R. et al. (1967) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA58:217-224; Levisohn, R. and Spiegelman, S. (1968) Proc. Natl. Acad.Sci. USA 60:866-872; Levisohn, R. and Spiegelman S. (1969) Proc. Natl.Acad. Sci. USA 63:805-811; Saffhill, R. et al. (1970) J. Mol. Biol.51:531-539; Kacian, D. L. et al. (1972) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA69:3038-3042; Mills, D. R. et al. (1973) Science 180:916-927. The phageRNA serves as a poly-cistronic messenger RNA directing translation ofphage-specific proteins and also as a template for its own replicationcatalyzed by Qβ RNA replicase. This RNA replicase was shown to be highlyspecific for its own RNA templates. During the course of cycles ofreplication in vitro small variant RNAs were isolated which were alsoreplicated by Qβ replicase. Minor alterations in the conditions underwhich cycles of replication were performed were found to result in theaccumulation of different RNAs, presumably because their replication wasfavored under the altered conditions. In these experiments, the selectedRNA had to be bound efficiently by the replicase to initiate replicationand had to serve as a kinetically favored template during elongation ofRNA. Kramer et al. (1974) J. Mol. Biol. 89:719 reported the isolation ofa mutant RNA template of Qβ replicase, the replication of which was moreresistant to inhibition by ethidium bromide than the natural template.It was suggested that this mutant was not present in the initial RNApopulation but was generated by sequential mutation during cycles of invitro replication with Qβ replicase. The only source of variation duringselection was the intrinsic error rate during elongation by Qβreplicase. In these studies what was termed "selection" occurred bypreferential amplification of one or more of a limited number ofspontaneous variants of an initially homogenous RNA sequence. There wasno selection of a desired result, only that which was intrinsic to themode of action of Qβ replicase.

Joyce and Robertson (Joyce (1989) in RNA: Catalysis, Splicing,Evolution, Belfort and Shub (eds.), Elsevier, Amsterdam pp. 83-87; andRobertson and Joyce (1990) Nature 344:467) reported a method foridentifying RNAs which specifically cleave single-stranded DNA. Theselection for catalytic activity was based on the ability of theribozyme to catalyze the cleavage of a substrate ssRNA or DNA at aspecific position and transfer the 3'-end of the substrate to the 3'-endof the ribozyme. The product of the desired reaction was selected byusing an oligodeoxynucleotide primer which could bind only to thecompleted product across the junction formed by the catalytic reactionand allowed selective reverse transcription of the ribozyme sequence.The selected catalytic sequences were amplified by attachment of thepromoter of T7 RNA polymerase to the 3'-end of the cDNA, followed bytranscription to RNA. The method was employed to identify from a smallnumber of ribozyme variants the variant that was most reactive forcleavage of a selected substrate.

The prior art has not taught or suggested more than a limited range ofchemical functions for nucleic acids in their interactions with othersubstances: as targets for proteins evolved to bind certain specificoligonucleotide sequences; and more recently, as catalysts with alimited range of activities. Prior "selection" experiments have beenlimited to a narrow range of variants of a previously describedfunction. Now, for the first time, it will be understood that thenucleic acids are capable of a vastly broad range of functions and themethodology for realizing that capability is disclosed herein.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/536,428 filed Jun. 11, 1990, of Goldand Tuerk, entitled Systematic Evolution of Ligands by ExponentialEnrichment, now abandoned and U.S. patent application Ser. No.07/714,131 filed Jun. 10, 1991 of Gold and Tuerk, entitled Nucleic AcidLigands, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,096 (See also WO 91/19813) describe afundamentally novel method for making a nucleic acid ligand for anydesired target. Each of these applications, collectively referred toherein as the SELEX Patent Applications, is specifically incorporatedherein by reference.

The method of the SELEX Patent Applications is based on the uniqueinsight that nucleic acids have sufficient capacity for forming avariety of two- and three-dimensional structures and sufficient chemicalversatility available within their monomers to act as ligands (formspecific binding pairs) with virtually any chemical compound, whetherlarge or small in size.

The method involves selection from a mixture of candidates and step-wiseiterations of structural improvement, using the same general selectiontheme, to achieve virtually any desired criterion of binding affinityand selectivity. Starting from a mixture of nucleic acids, preferablycomprising a segment of randomized sequence, the method, termed SELEXherein, includes steps of contacting the mixture with the target underconditions favorable for binding, partitioning unbound nucleic acidsfrom those nucleic acids which have bound to target molecules,dissociating the nucleic acid-target pairs, amplifying the nucleic acidsdissociated from the nucleic acid-target pairs to yield aligand-enriched mixture of nucleic acids, then reiterating the steps ofbinding, partitioning, dissociating and amplifying through as manycycles as desired.

While not bound by a theory of preparation, SELEX is based on theinventors' insight that within a nucleic acid mixture containing a largenumber of possible sequences and structures there is a wide range ofbinding affinities for a given target. A nucleic acid mixturecomprising, for example a 20 nucleotide randomized segment can have 4²⁰candidate possibilities. Those which have the higher affinity constantsfor the target are most likely to bind. After partitioning, dissociationand amplification, a second nucleic acid mixture is generated, enrichedfor the higher binding affinity candidates. Additional rounds ofselection progressively favor the best ligands until the resultingnucleic acid mixture is predominantly composed of only one or a fewsequences. These can then be cloned, sequenced and individually testedfor binding affinity as pure ligands.

Cycles of selection and amplification are repeated until a desired goalis achieved. In the most general case, selection/amplification iscontinued until no significant improvement in binding strength isachieved on repetition of the cycle. The method may be used to sample asmany as about 10¹⁸ different nucleic acid species. The nucleic acids ofthe test mixture preferably include a randomized sequence portion aswell as conserved sequences necessary for efficient amplification.Nucleic acid sequence variants can be produced in a number of waysincluding synthesis of randomized nucleic acid sequences and sizeselection from randomly cleaved cellular nucleic acids. The variablesequence portion may contain fully or partially random sequence; it mayalso contain subportions of conserved sequence incorporated withrandomized sequence. Sequence variation in test nucleic acids can beintroduced or increased by mutagenesis before or during theselection/amplification iterations.

In one embodiment of the method of the SELEX Patent Applications, theselection process is so efficient at isolating those nucleic acidligands that bind most strongly to the selected target, that only onecycle of selection and amplification is required. Such an efficientselection may occur, for example, in a chromatographic-type processwherein the ability of nucleic acids to associate with targets bound ona column operates in such a manner that the column is sufficiently ableto allow separation and isolation of the highest affinity nucleic acidligands.

In many cases, it is not necessarily desirable to perform the iterativesteps of SELEX until a single nucleic acid ligand is identified. Thetarget-specific nucleic acid ligand solution may include a family ofnucleic acid structures or motifs that have a number of conservedsequences and a number of sequences which can be substituted or addedwithout significantly effecting the affinity of the nucleic acid ligandsto the target. By terminating the SELEX process prior to completion, itis possible to determine the sequence of a number of members of thenucleic acid ligand solution family.

A variety of nucleic acid primary, secondary and tertiary structures areknown to exist. The structures or motifs that have been shown mostcommonly to be involved in non-Watson-Crick type interactions arereferred to as hairpin loops, symmetric and asymmetric bulges,psuedoknots and myriad combinations of the same. Almost all known casesof such motifs suggest that they can be formed in a nucleic acidsequence of no more than 30 nucleotides. For this reason, it is oftenpreferred that SELEX procedures with contiguous randomized segments beinitiated with nucleic acid sequences containing a randomized segment ofbetween about 20-50 nucleotides.

The SELEX Patent Applications also describe methods for obtainingnucleic acid ligands that bind to more than one site on the targetmolecule, and to nucleic acid ligands that include non-nucleic acidspecies that bind to specific sites on the target. The SELEX methodprovides means for isolating and identifying nucleic acid ligands whichbind to any envisonable target. However, in preferred embodiments theSELEX method is applied to situations where the target is a protein,including both nucleic acid-binding proteins and proteins not known tobind nucleic acids as part of their biological function.

Little is known about RNA structure at high resolution. The basic A-formhelical structure of double stranded RNA is known from fiber diffractionstudies. X-ray crystallography has yielded the structure of a few tRNAsand a short poly-AU helix. The X-ray structure of a tRNA/synthetaseRNA/protein complex has also been solved. The structures of twotetranucleotide hairpin loops and one model pseudoknot are know from NMRstudies.

There are several reasons behind the paucity of structural data. Untilthe advent of in vitro RNA synthesis, it was difficult to isolatequantities of RNA sufficient for structural work. Until the discovery ofcatalytic RNAs, there were few RNA molecules considered worthy ofstructural study. Good tRNA crystals have been difficult to obtain,discouraging other crystal studies. The technology for NMR study ofmolecules of this size has only recently become available.

As described above, several examples of catalytic RNA structures areknown, and the SELEX technology has been developed which selects RNAsthat bind tightly to a variety of target molecules--and may eventuallybe able to select for new catalytic RNA structures as well. It hasbecome important to know the structure of these molecules, in order tolearn how exactly they work, and to use this knowledge to improve uponthem.

It would be desirable to understand enough about RNA folding to be ableto predict the structure of an RNA with less effort than resorting torigorous NMR, and X-ray crystal structure determination. For bothproteins and RNAs, there has always been a desire to be able to computestructures based on sequences, and with limited (or no) experimentaldata.

Protein structure prediction is notoriously difficult. To a firstapproximation, the secondary structure and tertiary structure ofproteins form cooperatively; protein folding can be approximatedthermodynamically by a two-state model, with completely folded andcompletely unfolded states. This means that the number of degrees offreedom for modeling a protein structure are very large; withoutpredictable intermediates, one cannot break the prediction problem intosmaller, manageable sub problems. In contrast, RNAs often appear to makewell-defined secondary structures which provide more stability than thetertiary interactions. For example, the tertiary structure of tRNA canbe disrupted without disrupting the secondary structure by chelation ofmagnesium or by raising the temperature. Secondary structure predictionfor RNAs is well-understood, and is generally quite accurate for smallRNA molecules. For RNAs, structural prediction can be broken intosubproblems; first, predict the secondary structure; then, predict howthe resulting helices and remaining single strands are arranged relativeto each other.

For RNA, the first attempts at structural prediction were for tRNAs. Thesecondary structure of the canonical tRNA cloverleaf was known fromcomparative sequence analysis, reducing the problem to one of arrangingfour short A-form helices in space relative to each other. Manual CPKmodeling, back-of-the-envelope energy minimization, and a few distancerestraints available from crosslinking studies and phylogeneticcovariations were used to generate a tRNA model--which unfortunatelyproved wrong when the first crystal structure of phenylalanine tRNA wassolved a few years later.

Computer modeling has supplanted manual modeling, relieving themodel-builder of the difficulties imposed by gravitation and mass.Computer modeling can only be used without additional experimental datafor instances in which a homologous structure is known; for instance,the structure of the 3' end of the turnip yellow mosaic virus RNA genomewas modeled, based on the known 3D structure of tRNA and the knowledgethat the 3' end of TYMV is recognized as tRNA-like by a number ofcellular tRNA modification enzymes. This model was the first 3D model ofan RNA pseudoknot; the basic structure of an isolated model pseudoknothas been corroborated by NMR data.

Computer modeling protocols have been used, restrained by the manualinspection of chemical and enzymatic protection data, to model thestructures of several RNA molecules. In one isolated substructure, onemodel for the conformation of a GNRA tetranucleotide loop has been shownto be essentially correct by NMR study of an isolated GNRA hairpin loop.

Francois Michel ((1989) Nature 342:391) has constructed a model for thecatalytic core of group I introns. Like the tRNAs, the secondarystructure of group I intron cores is well-known from comparativesequence analysis, so the problem is reduced to one of properlyarranging helices and the remaining single-stranded regions. Michel((1989) Nature 342:391) analyzed an aligned set of 87 group I intronsequences by eye and detected seven strong pairwise and tripletcovariations outside of the secondary structure, which he interpreted astertiary contacts and manually incorporated as restraints on his model.As yet, there is no independent confirmation of the Michel model.

Others have attempted to devise an automated procedure to deal withdistance restraints from crosslinking, fluorescence transfer, orphylogentic co-variation. The RNA is treated as an assemblage ofcylinders (A-form helices) and beads (single-stranded residues), and amathematical technique called distance geometry is used to generatearrangements of these elements which are consistent with a set ofdistance restraints. Using a small set of seven distance restraints onthe phenylalanine tRNA tertiary structure, this protocol generated thefamiliar L-form of the tRNA structure about 2/3 of the time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention includes methods for identifying and producingnucleic acid ligands and the nucleic acid ligands so identified andproduced. The SELEX method described above allows for the identificationof a single nucleic acid ligand or a family of nucleic acid ligands to agiven target. The methods of the present invention allow for theanalysis of the nucleic acid ligand or family of nucleic acid ligandsobtained by SELEX in order to identify and produce improved nucleic acidligands.

Included in this invention are methods for determining thethree-dimensional structure of nucleic acid ligands. Such methodsinclude mathematical modeling and structure modifications of the SELEXderived ligands. Further included are methods for determining whichnucleic acid residues in a nucleic acid ligand are necessary formaintaining the three-dimensional structure of the ligand, and whichresidues interact with the target to facilitate the formation ofligand-target binding pairs.

In one embodiment of the present invention, nucleic acid ligands aredesired for their ability to inhibit one or more of the biologicalactivities of the target. In such cases, methods are provided fordetermining whether the nucleic acid ligand effectively inhibits thedesired biological activity.

Further included in this invention are methods for identifyingtighter-binding RNA ligands and smaller, more stable ligands for use inpharmaceutical or diagnostic purposes.

The present invention includes improved nucleic acid ligands to theHIV-RT and HIV-1 Rev proteins. Also included are nucleic acid sequencesthat are substantially homologous to and that have substantially thesame ability to bind HIV-RT or the HIV-1 Rev protein as the nucleic acidligands specifically identified herein.

Also included within the scope of the invention is a method forperforming sequential SELEX experiments in order to identify extendednucleic acid ligands. In particular, extended nucleic acid ligands tothe HIV-RT protein are disclosed. Nucleic acid sequences that aresubstantially homologous to and that have substantially the same abilityto bind HIV-RT as the extended HIV-RT nucleic acid ligands are alsoincluded in this invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 depicts the consensus pseudoknot derived from primary andsecondary SELEX experiments describing high affinity inhibitory ligandsof HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (HIV-RT). The consensus secondarystructure is a pseudoknot; the 5' helix of that pseudoknot (Stem 1) isconserved at the primary sequence level and the 3' helix or Stem 2 isnot. X indicates a nucleotide position that is non-conserved; X-X'indicates a preferred base-pair. The 26 nucleotide positions arenumbered as shown.

FIG. 2A depicts refinement of the 5' information boundary. A set ofmodel ligands were synthesized with T7 RNA polymerase from templateoligos. (Milligan et al. (1987) Nucl. Acid. Res. 15:8783-8798).Illustrated in the upper left is the complete ligand B. On the rightmargin are shown the variations in the individual ligands A through Ethat occur in the boxed areas.

FIG. 2B depicts graphically the individual binding curves for thesemodel ligands.

FIG. 3 depicts the effect of various nucleotide substitutions within theligand B sequence on binding to HIV-RT. Illustrated are the varioussubstitutions and resultant affinities to HIV-RT expressed relative tothe binding of ligand B. Ligand B was a control tested in eachexperiment; the affinity of ligand B is normalized as 1.0 and therelative affinity (Kd of ligand B is divided by the Kd of each ligand)is shown. Also shown are the affinities of various truncations of ligandB. The value associated with the asterisked G-G which replaces U1-G16comes from ligand C of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 depicts a chemical probe of the native versus denaturedconformations of ligand B. The various nucleotides of ligand B werereacted with chemicals under native and denaturing conditions, assayedfor the modified positions, electrophoresed and visualized forcomparison. ▪ indicate highly reactive base-pairing groups of the baseat that position and □ partially reactivity; ▴ indicates strongreactivity of purine N7 positions and Δ partial reactivity (tomodification with DEPC). The question marks indicate that thesepositions on G(-2) and G(-1) could not be distinguished due to bandcrowding on the gel.

FIG. 5 depicts reactivities of modifiable groups of ligand B when boundto HIV-RT. Diagrammed are those groups that show altered reactivity whenbound to HIV-RT as compared to that of the native conformation.

FIG. 6 depicts modification interference results for ligand B complexingwith HIV-RT. Symbols for modification are as in the boxed legend. Themodifications indicated are those that are strongly (filled symbols) orpartially (unfilled symbols) selected against by binding to HIV-RT(reflected by decreased modification at those positions in the selectedpopulation).

FIG. 7A depicts substitution of 2'-methoxy for hydroxyl on the ribosesof the ligand B sequence shown in the upper right. Illustrated in theupper right is the complete ligand B. On the left margin are shown thevariations in the individual ligands A through D that occur in ligand B.

FIG. 7B depicts graphically the individual binding curves for ligandsA-D.

FIG. 8 depicts selection by HIV-RT from mixed populations of 2'-methoxyribose versus 2'-hydroxyl at positions U1 through A5 and A12 throughA20. An oligonucleotide was synthesized with the following sequence:

5'-(AAAAA)_(d) (UCCGA)_(x) (AGUGCA)_(m) (ACGGGAAAA)_(x) (UGCACU)_(m-3')

where subscripted "d" indicates 2'-deoxy, subscripted "x" that thosenucleotides are mixed 50--50 for phosphoramidite reagents resulting in2'-methoxy or 2'-hydroxyl on the ribose, and subscripted "m" indicatingthat those nucleotides are all 2'-methoxy on the ribose.

FIG. 9 shows the starting RNA sequence (SEQ ID NO:37) and the collectionof sequences, grouped into two motifs, Extension Motif I (SEQ IDNOS:14-27) and Extension Motif II (SEQ ID NOS:28-33), obtained fromSELEX with HIV-RT as part of a walking experiment.

FIG. 10A illustrates the secondary structure of the first 25 bases ofthe starting material shown in FIG. 9.

FIGS. 10B and 10C illustrate the consensus extended HIV-RT ligandsobtained from the Extension Motif I (SEQ ID NO:38)(FIG. 10B) andExtension Motif II (SEQ ID NO:39) (FIG. 10C), shown in FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 illustrates the revised description of the pseudoknot ligand ofHIV-RT. In addition to the labeling conventions of FIG. 1, the S-S'indicates the preferred C-G or G-C base-pair at this position.

FIG. 12A shows the sequence of a high-affinity RNA ligand for HIV-1 Revprotein obtained from SELEX experiments. Shown is the numbering schemeused for reference to particular bases in the RNA. This sequence wasused for chemical modification with ENU.

FIG. 12B shows the extended RNA sequence used in chemical modificationexperiments with DMS, kethoxal, CMCT, and DEPC.

FIG. 12C shows the sequence of the oligonucleotide used for primerextension of the extended ligand sequence.

FIG. 13 depicts the results of chemical modification of the HIV-1 Revligand RNA under native conditions. FIG. 13A lists chemical modifyingagents, their specificity, and the symbols denoting partial and fullmodification. The RNA sequence is shown, with degree and type ofmodification displayed for every modified base. FIG. 13B depicts thehelical, bulge, and hairpin structural elements of the HIV-1 Rev RNAligand corresponding to the modification and computer structuralprediction data.

FIG. 14 depicts the results of chemical modification of the ligand RNAthat interferes with binding to the HIV-1 Rev protein. Listed are themodifications which interfere with protein binding, classified intocategories of strong interference and slight interference. Symbolsdenote either base-pairing modifications, N7 modifications, or phosphatemodifications.

FIG. 15 depicts the modification interference values for phosphatealkylation. Data is normalized to A17 3' phosphate.

FIG. 16 depicts the modification interference values for DMSmodification of N3C and N1A. Data is normalized to C36; A34.

FIG. 17 depicts the modification interference values for kethoxalmodification of N1G and N2G. Data is normalized to G5.

FIG. 18 depicts the modification interference values for CMCTmodification of N3U and N1G. Data is normalized to U38.

FIG. 19 depicts the modification interference values for DEPCmodification of N7A and N7G. Data normalized to G19; A34.

FIG. 20 depicts the chemical modification of the RNA ligand in thepresence of the HIV-1 Rev protein. Indicated are those positions thatshowed either reduced modification or enhanced modification in thepresence of protein as compared to modification under native conditionsbut without protein present.

FIG. 21 shows the 5' and 3' sequences which flank the "6a" biased randomregion used in SELEX. The template which produced the initial RNApopulation was constructed from the following oligonucleotides:

    __________________________________________________________________________    5'-CCCGGATCCTCTTTACCTCTGTGTGagatacagagtccacaaacgtgttc                         tcaatgcacccGGTCGGAAGGCCATCAATAGTCCC-3' (template oligo) (SEQ ID NO:9)         5'-CCGAAGCTTAATACGACTCACTATAGGGACTATTGATGGCCTTCCGACC-3'                       (5' primer) (SEQ ID NO:10)                                                    5'-CCCGGATCCTCTTTACCTCTGTGTG-3' (3' primer) (SEQ ID NO:11)                    __________________________________________________________________________

where the small-case letters in the template oligo indicate that at eachposition that a mixture of reagents were used in synthesis by an amountof 62.5% of the small case letter, and 12.5% each of the other threenucleotides. Listed below the 6a sequence are the sequences of 38isolates cloned after six rounds of SELEX performed with Rev proteinwith this population of RNA. The differences found in these isolatesfrom the 6a sequences are indicated by bold-faced characters. Underlinedare the predicted base pairings that comprise the bulge-flanking stemsof the Motif I Rev ligands. Bases that are included from the 5' and 3'fixed flanking sequences are lower case.

FIG. 22 shows three sets of tabulations containing:

A) The count of each nucleotide found at corresponding positions of theRev 6a ligand sequence in the collection of sequences found in FIG. 21;

B) The fractional frequency of each nucleotide found at these positions(x÷38, where x is the count from 1.); and

C) The difference between the fractional frequency of B) and theexpected frequency based on the input mixture of oligonucleotides duringtemplate synthesis for "wild type" positions, (x÷38)-0.625 and foralternative sequences (x÷38)-0.125!.

FIG. 23 shows three sets of tabulations containing:

A) The count of each base pair found at corresponding positions of theRev 6a ligand sequence in the collection of sequences found in FIG. 21,

B) The fractional frequency of each nucleotide found at these positions(x÷38, where x is the count from A),

C) The difference between the fractional frequency of B) and theexpected frequency based on the input mixture of oligonucleotides duringtemplate synthesis for "wild type" positions, (x÷38)-0.39; for basepairs that contain one alternate nucleotide and one wild typenucleotide, (x÷38)-0.078; and for base pairings of two alternatenucleotides (x÷38)-0.016!. Values are shown for purine pyrimidinepairings only, the other eight pyrimidine and purine pairings arecollectively counted and shown as "other" and are computed for sectionC) as (x÷38)-0.252.

FIG. 24A shows the previously determined Rev protein ligand Motif Iconsensus from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/714,131, filed Jun.10, 1991, entitled "Nucleic Acid Ligands," now U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,096,issued Dec. 12, 1995.

FIG. 24B shows the 6a sequence from the same application.

FIG. 24C shows the preferred consensus derived from the biasedrandomization SELEX as interpreted from the data presented in FIGS. 22and 23. Absolutely conserved positions in the preferred consensus areshown in bold face characters, and S-S' indicates either a C-G or G-Cbase pair.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

This application is an extension and improvement of the method foridentifying nucleic acid ligands referred to as SELEX. The SELEX methodis described in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/714,131filed Jun. 10, 1991 entitled Nucleic Acid Ligands, now U.S. Pat. Nos.5,475,096 and 07/536,428 filed Jun. 11, 1990 entitled SystematicEvolution of Ligands by EXponential Enrichment now abandoned. The fulltext of these applications, including but not limited to, alldefinitions and descriptions of the SELEX process, are specificallyincorporated herein by reference.

This application includes methods for identifying and producing improvednucleic acid ligands based on the basic SELEX process. The applicationincludes separate sections covering the following embodiments of theinvention: I. The SELEX Process; II. Techniques for Identifying ImprovedNucleic Acid Ligands Subsequent to Performing SELEX; III. SequentialSELEX Experiments--Walking; IV. Elucidation of Structure of Ligands ViaCovariance Analysis; V. Elucidation of an Improved Nucleic Acid Ligandfor HIV-RT; VI. Performance of Walking Experiment With HIV-RT NucleicAcid Ligand to Identify Extended Nucleic Acid Ligands; and VII.Elucidation of an Improved Nucleic Acid Ligand for HIV-1 Rev Protein.

Improved nucleic acid ligands to the HIV-RT and HIV-1 Rev proteins aredisclosed and claimed herein. This invention includes the specificnucleic acid ligands identified herein. The scope of the ligands coveredby the invention extends to all ligands of the HIV-RT and Rev proteinsidentified according to the procedures described herein. Morespecifically, this invention includes nucleic acid sequences that aresubstantially homologous to and that have substantially the same abilityto bind the HIV-RT or Rev proteins, under physiological conditions, asthe nucleic acid ligands identified herein. By substantially homologous,it is meant, a degree of homology in excess of 70%, most preferably inexcess of 80%. Substantially homologous also includes base pair flips inthose areas of the nucleic acid ligands that include base pairingregions. Substantially the same ability to bind the HIV-RT or Revprotein means that the affinity is within two orders of magnitude of theaffinity of the nucleic acid ligands described herein. It is well withinthe skill of those of ordinary skill in the art to determine whether agiven sequence is substantially homologous to and has substantially thesame ability to bind the HIV-RT or HIV-1 Rev protein as the sequencesidentified herein.

I. The SELEX Process.

In its most basic form, the SELEX process may be defined by thefollowing series of steps:

1) A candidate mixture of nucleic acids of differing sequence isprepared. The candidate mixture generally includes regions of fixedsequences (i.e., each of the members of the candidate mixture containsthe same sequences in the same location) and regions of randomizedsequences. The fixed sequence regions are selected either: a) to assistin the amplification steps described below; b) to facilitate mimicry ofa sequence known to bind to the target; or c) to enhance theconcentration of a given structural arrangement of the nucleic acids inthe candidate mixture. The randomized sequences can be totallyrandomized (i.e., the probability of finding a base at any positionbeing one in four) or only partially randomized (e.g., the probabilityof finding a base at any location can be selected at any level between 0and 100 percent).

2) The candidate mixture is contacted with the selected target underconditions favorable for binding between the target and members of thecandidate mixture. Under these circumstances, the interaction betweenthe target and the nucleic acids of the candidate mixture can beconsidered as forming nucleic acid-target pairs between the target andthe nucleic acids having the strongest affinity for the target.

3) The nucleic acids with the highest affinity for the target arepartitioned from those nucleic acids with lesser affinity to the target.Because only an extremely small number of sequences (and possibly onlyone molecule of nucleic acid) corresponding to the highest affinitynucleic acids exist in the candidate mixture, it is generally desirableto set the partitioning criteria so that a significant amount of thenucleic acids in the candidate mixture (approximately 5-50%) areretained during partitioning.

4) Those nucleic acids selected during partitioning as having therelatively higher affinity to the target are then amplified to create anew candidate mixture that is enriched in nucleic acids having arelatively higher affinity for the target.

5) By repeating the partitioning and amplifying steps above, the newlyformed candidate mixture contains fewer and fewer unique sequences, andthe average degree of affinity of the nucleic acids to the target willgenerally increase. Taken to its extreme, the SELEX process will yield acandidate mixture containing one or a small number of unique nucleicacids representing those nucleic acids from the original candidatemixture having the highest affinity to the target molecule.

The SELEX Patent Applications describe and elaborate on this process ingreat detail. Included are targets that can be used in the process;methods for the preparation of the initial candidate mixture; methodsfor partitioning nucleic acids within a candidate mixture; and methodsfor amplifying partitioned nucleic acids to generate enriched candidatemixtures. The SELEX Patent Applications also describe ligand solutionsobtained to a number of target species, including both protein targetswherein the protein is and is not a nucleic acid binding protein.

SELEX delivers high affinity ligands of a target molecule. Thisrepresents a singular achievement that is unprecedented in the field ofnucleic acids research. The present invention is directed at methods fortaking the SELEX derived ligand solution in order to develop novelnucleic acid ligands having the desired characteristics. The desiredcharacteristics for a given nucleic acid ligand may vary. All nucleicacid ligands are capable of forming a complex with the target species.In some cases, it is desired that the nucleic acid ligand will serve toinhibit one or more of the biological activities of the target. In othercases, it is desired that the nucleic acid ligand serves to modify oneor more of the biological activities of the target. In other cases, thenucleic acid ligand serves to identify the presence of the target, andits effect on the biological activity of the target is irrelevant.

II. Techniques for Identifying Improved Nucleic Acid Ligands Subsequentto Performing SELEX.

In order to produce nucleic acids desirable for use as a pharmaceutical,it is preferred that the nucleic acid ligand 1) binds to the target in amanner capable of achieving the desired effect on the target; 2) be assmall as possible to obtain the desired effect; 3) be as stable aspossible; and 4) be a specific ligand to the chosen target. In most, ifnot all, situations it is preferred that the nucleic acid ligand havethe highest possible affinity to the target. Modifications orderivatizations of the ligand that confer resistance to degradation andclearance in situ during therapy, the capability to cross various tissueor cell membrane barriers, or any other accessory properties that do notsignificantly interfere with affinity for the target molecule may alsobe provided as improvements. The present invention includes the methodsfor obtaining improved nucleic acid ligands after SELEX has beenperformed.

Assays of ligand effects on target molecule function. One of the uses ofnucleic acid ligands derived by SELEX is to find ligands that altertarget molecule function. Because ligand analysis requires much morework than is encountered during SELEX enrichments, it is a goodprocedure to first assay for inhibition or enhancement of function ofthe target protein. One could even perform such functional tests of thecombined ligand pool prior to cloning and sequencing. Assays for thebiological function of the chosen target are generally available andknown to those skilled in the art, and can be easily performed in thepresence of the nucleic acid ligand to determine if inhibition occurs.

Affinity assays of the ligands. SELEX enrichment will supply a number ofcloned ligands of probable variable affinity for the target molecule.Sequence comparisons may yield consensus secondary structures andprimary sequences that allow grouping of the ligand sequences intomotifs. Although a single ligand sequence (with some mutations) can befound frequently in the total population of cloned sequences, the degreeof representation of a single ligand sequence in the cloned populationof ligand sequences may not absolutely correlate with affinity for thetarget molecule. Therefore mere abundance is not the sole criterion forjudging "winners" after SELEX and binding assays for various ligandsequences (adequately defining each motif that is discovered by sequenceanalysis) are required to weigh the significance of the consensusarrived at by sequence comparisons. The combination of sequencecomparison and affinity assays should guide the selection of candidatesfor more extensive ligand characterization.

Information boundaries determination. An important avenue for narrowingdown what amount of sequence is relevant to specific affinity is toestablish the boundaries of that information within a ligand sequence.This is conveniently accomplished by selecting end-labeled fragmentsfrom hydrolyzed pools of the ligand of interest so that 5' and 3'boundaries of the information can be discovered. To determine a 3'boundary, one performs a large-scale in vitro transcription of the PCRdligand, gel purifies the RNA using UV shadowing on an intensifyingscreen, phosphatases the purified RNA, phenol extracts extensively,labels by kinasing with 32P, and gel purifies the labeled product (usinga film of the gel as a guide). The resultant product may then besubjected to pilot partial digestions with RNase T1 (varying enzymeconcentration and time, at 50° C. in a buffer of 7M urea, 50 mMNaCitrate pH 5.2) and alkaline hydrolysis (at 50 mM NaCO₃, adjusted topH 9.0 by prior mixing of 1M bicarbonate and carbonate solutions; testover ranges of 20 to 60 minutes at 95° C.). Once optimal conditions foralkaline hydrolysis are established (so that there is an evendistribution of small to larger fragments) one can scale up to provideenough material for selection by the target (usually on nitrocellulosefilters). One then sets up binding assays, varying target proteinconcentration from the lowest saturating protein concentration to thatprotein concentration at which approximately 10% of RNA is bound asdetermined by the binding assays for the ligand. One should vary targetconcentration (if target supplies allow) by increasing volume ratherthan decreasing absolute amount of target; this provides a good signalto noise ratio as the amount of RNA bound to the filter is limited bythe absolute amount of target. The RNA is eluted as in SELEX and thenrun on a denaturing gel with T1 partial digests so that the positions ofhydrolysis bands can be related to the ligand sequence.

The 5' boundary can be similarly determined. Large-scale in vitrotranscriptions are purified as described above. There are two methodsfor labeling the 3' end of the RNA. One method is to kinase Cp with 32P(or purchase 32P-Cp) and ligate to the purified RNA with RNA ligase. Thelabeled RNA is then purified as above and subjected to very identicalprotocols. An alternative is to subject unlabeled RNAs to partialalkaline hydrolyses and extend an annealed, labeled primer with reversetranscriptase as the assay for band positions. One of the advantagesover pCp labeling is the ease of the procedure, the more completesequencing ladder (by dideoxy chain termination sequencing) with whichone can correlate the boundary, and increased yield of assayableproduct. A disadvantage is that the extension on eluted RNA sometimescontains artifactual stops, so it may be important to control byspotting and eluting starting material on nitrocellulose filters withoutwashes and assaying as the input RNA.

The result is that it is possible to find the boundaries of the sequenceinformation required for high affinity binding to the target.

An instructive example is the determination of the boundaries of theinformation found in the nucleic acid ligand for HIV-RT. (See, U.S.patent application Ser. No. 07/714,131 filed Jun. 10, 1991, now U.S.Pat. No. 5,475,096.) These experiments are described in detail below.The original pool of enriched RNAs yielded a few specific ligands forHIV-RT (one ligand, 1.1, represented 1/4 of the total population,nitrocellulose affinity sequences represented 1/2 and some RNAs had noaffinity for either). Two high-affinity RT ligands shared the sequence .. . UUCCGNNNNNNNNCGGGAAAA . . . (SEQ ID NO:1) Boundary experiments ofboth ligands established a clear 3' boundary and a less clear 5'boundary. It can be surmised from the boundary experiments and secondarySELEX experiments that the highest affinity ligands contained theessential information UCCGNNNNNNNNCGGGAAAAN'N'N'N' (SEQ ID NO:2)(whereN's base pair to Ns in the 8 base loop sequence of the hairpin formed bythe pairing of UCCG to CGGG) and that the 5' U would be dispensable withsome small loss in affinity. In this application, the construction ofmodel compounds confirmed that there was no difference in the affinityof sequences with only one 5' U compared to 2 5' U's (as is shared bythe two compared ligands), that removal of both U's caused a 5-folddecrease in affinity and of the next C a more drastic loss in affinity.The 3' boundary which appeared to be clear in the boundary experimentswas less precipitous. This new information can be used to deduce thatwhat is critical at the 3' end is to have at least three base-pairednucleotides (to sequences that loop between the two strands of Stem 1).Only two base-paired nucleotides result in a 12-fold reduction inaffinity. Having no 3' base-paired nucleotides (truncation at the end ofLoop 2) results in an approximately 70-fold reduction in affinity.

Quantitative and qualitative assessment of individual nucleotidecontributions to affinity.

SECONDARY SELEX. Once the minimal high affinity ligand sequence isidentified, it may be useful to identify the nucleotides within theboundaries that are crucial to the interaction with the target molecule.One method is to create a new random template in which all of thenucleotides of a high affinity ligand sequence are partially randomizedor blocks of randomness are interspersed with blocks of completerandomness. Such "secondary" SELEXes produce a pool of ligand sequencesin which crucial nucleotides or structures are absolutely conserved,less crucial features preferred, and unimportant positions unbiased.Secondary SELEXes can thus help to further elaborate a consensus that isbased on relatively few ligand sequences. In addition, evenhigher-affinity ligands may be provided whose sequences were unexploredin the original SELEX.

In this application we show such a biased randomization for ligands ofthe HIV-1 Rev protein. In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/714,131filed Jun. 10, 1991, nucleic acid ligands to the HIV-1 Rev protein weredescribed. One of these ligand sequences bound with higher affinity thanall of the other ligand sequences (Rev ligand sequence 6a, shown in FIG.12) but existed as only two copies in the 53 isolates that were clonedand sequenced. In this application, this sequence was incorporated in asecondary SELEX experiment in which each of the nucleotides of the 6asequence (confined to that part of the sequence which comprises a Revprotein binding site defined by homology to others of Rev ligand motifI) was mixed during oligonucleotide synthesis with the other threenucleotides in the ratio 62.5:12.5:12.5:12.5. For example, when thesequence at position G1 is incorporated during oligo synthesis, thereagents for G,A,T, and C are mixed in the ratios 62.5:12.5:12.5:12.5.After six rounds of SELEX using the Rev protein, ligands were clonedfrom this mixture so that a more comprehensive consensus descriptioncould be derived.

NUCLEOTIDE SUBSTITUTION. Another method is to test oligo-transcribedvariants where the SELEX consensus may be confusing. As shown above,this has helped us to understand the nature of the 5' and 3' boundariesof the information required to bind HIV-RT. As is shown in the attachedexample this has helped to quantitate the consensus of nucleotideswithin Stem 1 of the HIV-RT pseudoknot.

CHEMICAL MODIFICATION. Another useful set of techniques are inclusivelydescribed as chemical modification experiments. Such experiments may beused to probe the native structure of RNAs, by comparing modificationpatterns of denatured and non-denatured states. The chemicalmodification pattern of an RNA ligand that is subsequently bound bytarget molecule may be different from the native pattern, indicatingpotential changes in structure upon binding or protection of groups bythe target molecule. In addition, RNA ligands will fail to be bound bythe target molecule when modified at positions crucial to either thebound structure of the ligand or crucial to interaction with the targetmolecule. Such experiments in which these positions are identified aredescribed as "chemical modification interference" experiments.

There are a variety of available reagents to conduct such experimentsthat are known to those skilled in the art (see, Ehresmann et al., Nuc.Acids. Res., 15:9109-9128, (1987)). Chemicals that modify bases can beused to modify ligand RNAs. A pool is bound to the target at varyingconcentrations and the bound RNAs recovered (much as in the boundaryexperiments) and the eluted RNAs analyzed for the modification. Assaycan be by subsequent modification-dependent base removal and anilinescission at the baseless position or by reverse transcription assay ofsensitive (modified) positions. In such assays bands (indicatingmodified bases) in unselected RNAs appear that disappear relative toother bands in target protein-selected RNAs. Similar chemicalmodifications with ethylnitrosourea, or via mixed chemical or enzymaticsynthesis with, for example, 2'-methoxys on ribose or phosphorothioatescan be used to identify essential atomic groups on the backbone. Inexperiments with 2'-methoxy vs. 2'-OH mixtures, the presence of anessential OH group results in enhanced hydrolysis relative to otherpositions in molecules that have been stringently selected by thetarget.

An example of how chemical modification can be used to yield usefulinformation about a ligand and help efforts to improve its functionalstability is given below for HIV-RT. Ethylnitrosourea modificationinterference identified 5 positions at which modification interferedwith binding and 2 of those positions at which it interfereddrastically. Modification of various atomic groups on the bases of theligand were also identified as crucial to the interaction with HIV-RT.Those positions were primarily in the 5' helix and bridging loopsequence that was highly conserved in the SELEX phylogeny (Stem I andLoop 2, FIG. 1). These experiments not only confirmed the validity ofthat phylogeny, but informed ongoing attempts to make more stable RNAs.An RT ligand was synthesized-in which all positions had 2'-methoxy atthe ribose portions of the backbone. This molecule bound withdrastically reduced affinity for HIV-RT. Based on the early modificationinterference experiments and the SELEX phylogeny comparisons, it couldbe determined that the 3' helix (Stem II FIG. 1) was essentially astructural component of the molecule. A ligand in which the 12 riboseresidues of that helix were 2'-methoxy was then synthesized and it boundwith high affinity to HIV-RT. In order to determine if any specific2'-OHs of the remaining 14 residues were specifically required forbinding, a molecule in which all of the riboses of the pseudoknot weresynthesized with mixed equimolar (empirically determined to be optimal)reagents for 2'-OH and 2'-methoxy formation. Selection by HIV-RT fromthis mixture followed by alkaline hydrolysis reveals bands of enhancedhydrolysis indicative of predominating 2' hydroxyls at those positions.Analysis of this experiment lead to the conclusion that residues (G4,A5, C13 and G14) must have 2'-OH for high affinity binding to HIV-RT.

Comparisons of the intensity of bands for bound and unbound ligands mayreveal not only modifications that interfere with binding, but alsomodifications that enhance binding. A ligand may be made with preciselythat modification and tested for the enhanced affinity. Thus chemicalmodification experiments can be a method for exploring additional localcontacts with the target molecule, just as "walking" (see below) is foradditional nucleotide level contacts with adjacent domains.

One of the products of the SELEX procedure is a consensus of primary andsecondary structures that enables the chemical or enzymatic synthesis ofoligonucleotide ligands whose design is based on that consensus. Becausethe replication machinery of SELEX requires that rather limitedvariation at the subunit level (ribonucleotides, for example), suchligands imperfectly fill the available atomic space of a targetmolecule's binding surface. However, these ligands can be thought of ashigh-affinity scaffolds that can be derivatized to make additionalcontacts with the target molecule. In addition, the consensus containsatomic group descriptors that are pertinent to binding and atomic groupdescriptors that are coincidental to the pertinent atomic groupinteractions. For example, each ribonucleotide of the pseudoknot ligandof HIV-RT contains a 2' hydroxyl group on the ribose, but only two ofthe riboses of the pseudoknot ligand cannot be substituted at thisposition with 2'-methoxy. A similar experiment with deoxyribonucleotidemixtures with ribonucleotide mixtures (as we have done with 2'-methoxyand 2' hydroxy mixtures) would reveal which riboses or how many ribosesare dispensable for binding HIV-RT. A similar experiment with moreradical substitutions at the 2' position would again reveal theallowable substitutions at 2' positions. One may expect by this methodto find derivatives of the pseudoknot ligand that confer higher affinityassociation with HIV-RT. Such derivatization does not excludeincorporation of cross-linking agents that will give specificallydirectly covalent linkages to the target protein. Such derivatizationanalyses are not limited to the 2' position of the ribose, but couldinclude derivatization at any position in the base or backbone of thenucleotide ligand.

A logical extension of this analysis is a situation in which one or afew nucleotides of the polymeric ligand is used as a site for chemicalderivative exploration. The rest of the ligand serves to anchor in placethis monomer (or monomers) on which a variety of derivatives are testedfor non-interference with binding and for enhanced affinity. Suchexplorations may result in small molecules that mimic the structure ofthe initial ligand framework, and have significant and specific affinityfor the target molecule independent of that nucleic acid framework. Suchderivatized subunits, which may have advantages with respect to massproduction, therapeutic routes of administration, delivery, clearance ordegradation than the initial SELEX ligand, may become the therapeuticand may retain very little of the original ligand. This approach is thusan additional utility of SELEX. SELEX ligands can allow directedchemical exploration of a defined site on the target molecule known tobe important for the target function.

Structure determination. These efforts have helped to confirm andevaluate the sequence and structure dependent association of ligands toHIV-RT. Additional techniques may be performed to provide atomic levelresolution of ligand/target molecule complexes. These are NMRspectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. With such structures in hand,one can then perform rational design as improvements on the evolvedligands supplied by SELEX. The computer modeling of nucleic acidstructures is described below.

Chemical Modification. This invention includes nucleic acid ligandswherein certain chemical modifications have been made in order toincrease the in vivo stability of the ligand or to enhance or mediatethe delivery of the ligand. Examples of such modifications includechemical substitutions at the ribose and/or phosphate positions of agiven RNA sequence. See, e.g., Cook, et al. PCT Application WO 9203568;U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,672 of Schinazi et al.; Hobbs et al. Biochem 12:5138(1973); Guschlbauer et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 4:1933 (1977); Shibaharaet al. Nucl. Acids. Res. 15:4403 (1987); Pieken et al. Science 253:314(1991), each of which is specifically incorporated herein by reference.

III. Sequential SELEX Experiments--Walking.

In one embodiment of this invention, after a minimal consensus ligandsequence has been determined for a given target, it is possible to addrandom sequence to the minimal consensus ligand sequence and evolveadditional contacts with the target, perhaps to separate but adjacentdomains. This procedure is referred to as "walking" in the SELEX PatentApplications. The successful application of the walking protocol ispresented below to develop an enhanced binding ligand to HIV-RT.

The walking experiment involves two SELEX experiments performedsequentially. A new candidate mixture is produced in which each of themembers of the candidate mixture has a fixed nucleic acid region thatcorresponds to a SELEX-derived nucleic acid ligand. Each member of thecandidate mixture also contains a randomized region of sequences.According to this method it is possible to identify what are referred toas "extended" nucleic acid ligands, that contain regions that may bindto more than one binding domain of a target.

IV. Elucidation of Structure of Ligands Via Covariance Analysis.

In conjunction with the empirical methods for determining the threedimensional structure of nucleic acids, the present invention includescomputer modeling methods for determining structure of nucleic acidligands.

Secondary structure prediction is a useful guide to correct sequencealignment. It is also a highly useful stepping-stone to correct 3Dstructure prediction, by constraining a number of bases into A-formhelical geometry.

Tables of energy parameters for calculating the stability of secondarystructures exist. Although early secondary structure prediction programsattempted to simply maximize the number of base-pairs formed by asequence, most current programs seek to find structures with minimalfree energy as calculated by these thermodynamic parameters. There aretwo problems in this approach. First, the thermodynamic rules areinherently inaccurate, typically to 10% or so, and there are manydifferent possible structures lying within 10% of the global energyminimum. Second, the actual secondary structure need not lie at a globalenergy minimum, depending on the kinetics of folding and synthesis ofthe sequence. Nonetheless, for short sequences, these caveats are ofminor importance because there are so few possible structures that canform.

The brute force predictive methods is a dot-plot: make an N by N plot ofthe sequence against itself, and mark an X everywhere a basepair ispossible. Diagonal runs of X's mark the location of possible helices.Exhaustive tree-searching methods can then search for all possiblearrangements of compatible (i.e., non-overlapping) helices of length Lor more; energy calculations may be done for these structures to rankthem as more or less likely. The advantages of this method are that allpossible topologies, including pseudoknotted conformations, may beexamined, and that a number of suboptimal structures are automaticallygenerated as well. The disadvantages of the method are that it can runin the worst cases in time proportional to an exponential factor of thesequence size, and may not (depending on the size of the sequence andthe actual tree search method employed) look deep enough to find aglobal minimum.

The elegant predictive method, and currently the most used, is the Zukerprogram. Zuker (1989) Science 244:48-52. originally based on analgorithm developed by Ruth Nussinov, the Zuker program makes a majorsimplifying assumption that no pseudoknotted conformations will beallowed. This permits the use of a dynamic programming approach whichruns in time proportional to only N³ to N⁴, where N is the length of thesequence. The Zuker program is the only program capable of rigorouslydealing with sequences of than a few hundred nucleotides, so it has cometo be the most commonly used by biologists. However, the inability ofthe Zuker program to predict pseudoknotted conformations is a fatalflaw, in that several different SELEX experiments so far have yieldedpseudoknotted RNA structures, which were recognized by eye. Abrute-force method capable of predicting pseudoknotted conformationsmust be used.

The central element of the comparative sequence analysis of the presentinvention is sequence covariations. A covariation is when the identityof one position depends on the identity of another position; forinstance, a required Watson-Crick base pair shows strong covariation inthat knowledge of one of the two positions gives absolute knowledge ofthe identity at the other position. Covariation analysis has been usedpreviously to predict the secondary structure of RNAs for which a numberof related sequences sharing a common structure exist, such as tRNA,rRNAs, and group I introns. It is now apparent that covariation analysiscan be used to detect tertiary contacts as well.

Stormo and Gutell (1992) Nucleic Acids Research 29:5785-5795 havedesigned and implemented an algorithm that precisely measures the amountof covariations between two positions in an aligned sequence set. Theprogram is called "MIXY"--Mutual Information at position X and Y.

Consider an aligned sequence set. In each column or position, thefrequency of occurrence of A, C, G, U, and gaps is calculated. Call thisfrequency f(b_(x)), the frequency of base b in column x. Now considertwo columns at once. The frequency that a given base b appears in columnx is f(b_(x)) and the frequency that a given base b appears in column yis f(b_(y)). If position x and position y do not care about each other'sidentity--that is, the positions are independent; there is nocovariation--the frequency of observing bases b_(x) and b_(y) atposition x and y in any given sequence should be just f(b_(x)b_(y))=f(b_(x))f(b_(y)). If there are substantial deviations of theobserved frequencies of pairs from their expected frequencies, thepositions are said to covary. The amount of deviation from expectationmay be quantified with an information measure M(x,y), the mutualinformation of x and y: ##EQU1##

M(x,y) can be described as the number of bits of information one learnsabout the identity of position y from knowing just the identity ofposition y from knowing just the identity of position x. If there is nocovariation, M(x,y) is zero; larger values of M(x,y) indicate strongcovariation.

These numbers correlated extremely well to a probability for closephysical contact in the tertiary structure, when this procedure wasapplied to the tRNA sequence data set. The secondary structure isextremely obvious as peaks in the M(x,y) values, and most of thetertiary contacts known from the crystal structure appear as peaks aswell.

These covariation values may be used to develop three-dimensionalstructural predictions.

In some ways, the problem is similar to that of structure determinationby NMR. Unlike crystallography, which in the end yields an actualelectron density map, NMR yields a set of interatomic distances.Depending on the number of interatomic distances one can get, there maybe one, few, or many 3D structures with which they are consistent.Mathematical techniques had to be developed to transform a matrix ofinteratomic distances into a structure in 3D space. The two maintechniques in use are distance geometry and restrained moleculardynamics.

Distance geometry is the more formal and purely mathematical technique.The interatomic distances are considered to be coordinates in anN-dimensional space, where N is the number of atoms. In other words, the"position" of an atom is specified by N distances to all the otheratoms, instead of the three (x,y,z) that we are used to thinking about.Interatomic distances between every atom are recorded in an N by Ndistance matrix. A complete and precise distance matrix is easilytransformed into a 3 by N Cartesian coordinates, using matrix algebraoperations. The trick of distance geometry as applied to NMR is dealingwith incomplete (only some of the interatomic distances are known) andimprecise data (distances are known to a precision of only a fewangstroms at best). Much of the time of distance geometry-basedstructure calculation is thus spent in pre-processing the distancematrix, calculating bounds for the unknown distance values based on theknown ones, and narrowing the bounds on the known ones. Usually,multiple structures are extracted from the distance matrix which areconsistent with a set of NMR data; if they all overlap nicely, the datawere sufficient to determine a unique structure. Unlike NMR structuredetermination, covariance gives only imprecise distance values, but alsoonly probabilistic rather than absolute knowledge about whether a givendistance constraint should be applied.

Restrained molecular dynamics is a more ad hoc procedure. Given anempirical force field that attempts to describe the forces that all theatoms feel (van der Waals, covalent bonding lengths and angles,electrostatics), one can simulate a number of femtosecond time steps ofa molecule's motion, by assigning every atom at a random velocity (fromthe Boltzmann distribution at a given temperature) and calculating eachatom's motion for a femtosecond using Newtonian dynamical equations;that is "molecular dynamics". In restrained molecular dynamics, oneassigns extra ad hoc forces to the atoms when they violate specifieddistance bounds.

In the present case, it is fairly easy to deal with the probabilisticnature of data with restrained molecular dynamics. The covariationvalues may be transformed into artificial restraining forces betweencertain atoms for certain distance bounds; varying the magnitude of theforce according to the magnitude of the covariance.

NMR and covariance analysis generates distance restraints between atomsor positions, which are readily transformed into structures throughdistance geometry or restrained molecular dynamics. Another source ofexperimental data which may be utilized to determine the threedimensional structures of nucleic acids is chemical and enzymaticprotection experiments, which generate solvent accessibility restraintsfor individual atoms or positions.

V. ELUCIDATION OF AN IMPROVED NUCLEIC ACID LIGAND FOR HIV-RT.

An example of the methods of the present invention are presented hereinfor the nucleic acid ligand for HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (HIV-RT).U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/714,131 describes the resultsobtained when SELEX was performed with the HIV-RT target. Inspection ofthe nucleic acid sequences that were found to have a high affinity toHIV-RT, it was concluded that the nucleic acid ligand solution wasconfigured as a pseudoknot.

Described herein are experiments which establish the minimum number ofsequences necessary to represent the nucleic acid ligand solution viaboundary studies. Also described are the construction of variants of theligand solution which are used to evaluate the contributions ofindividual nucleotides in the solution to the binding of the ligandsolution to HIV-RT. Also described is the chemical modification of theligand solution; 1) to corroborate its predicted pseudoknot structure;2) to determine which modifiable groups are protected from chemicalattack when bound to HIV-RT (or become unprotected during binding); and3) to determine what modifications interfere with binding to HIV-RT(presumably by modification of the three dimensional structure of theligand solution) and, therefore, which are presumably involved in theproximal contacts with the target.

The nucleic acid ligand solution previously determined is shown inFIG. 1. Depicted is an RNA pseudoknot in which Stem 1 (as labeled) isconserved and Stem 2 is relatively non-conserved; X indicates noconservation and X' base-pairs to X. In the original SELEX consensus U1was preferred (existing at this relative position in 11 of the 18sequences that contributed to the consensus), but A1 was also foundfrequently (in 6 of the 18). There were two sequences in which C-G wassubstituted for the base-pair of G4-C13 and one A-U substitution. Thepreferred number of nucleotides connecting the two strands of Stem 1 waseight (in 8 of 18). The number and pattern of base-paired nucleotidescomprising Stem 2 and the preference for A5 and A12 were derived fromthe consensus of a secondary SELEX in which the random region wasconstructed as follows NNUUCCGNNNNNNNNCGGGAAAANNNN (SEQ ID NO:3)(Ns arerandomized). One of the ligands was found to significantly inhibitHIV-RT and failed to inhibit AMV or MMLV reverse transcriptases.

Refinement of the information boundaries. The first two SELEXexperiments in which 32 nucleotide positions were randomized providedhigh affinity ligands in which there was variable length for Stem 1 atits 5' end; that is, some ligands had the sequence UUCCG which couldbase pair to CGGGA, UCCG to CGGG or CCG to CGG. Determination of theboundaries of the sequences donating high-affinity to the interactionwith HIV-RT was accomplished by selection from partial alkalinehydrolysates of end-labeled clonal RNAs, a rapid but qualitativeanalysis which suggested that the highest affinity ligands contained theessential information UCCGNNNNNNNCGGGAAAAN'N'N'N' (SEQ ID NO:2) (whereN's base pair to Ns in the 8 base loop sequence of the hairpin formed bythe pairing of UCCG to CGGG) and that the 5' U would be dispensable withsome small loss in affinity. In order to more stringently test the 5'sequences in a homogeneous context, the binding experiments depicted inFIG. 2 were performed. The RNA's transcribed from oligonucleotidetemplates were all the same as the complete sequence shown in the upperright hand corner of the figure, except for the varying 5' ends as shownin the boxes A-E lining the left margin. The result is that one 5' U issufficient for the highest-affinity binding to HIV-RT (boxes A and B),that with no U there is reduced binding (box C), and that any furtherremoval of 5' sequences reduces binding to that of non-specificsequences (box D). The design (hereafter referred to as ligand B) withonly one 5' U (U1) was used for the rest of the experiments describedhere.

Dependence on the length of Stem 2 was also examined by making various3' truncations at the 3' end of ligand B. Deletion of as many as 3nucleotides from the 3' end (A24-U26) made no difference in affinity ofthe molecule for HIV-RT. Deletion of the 3'-terminal 4 nucleotides(C23-U26) resulted in 7-fold reduced binding, of 5 (G22-U26) resulted inapproximately 12-fold reduction and of 6 nucleotides (U21-U26, or no 3'helix) an approximately 70-fold reduction in affinity. Such reductionswere less drastic than reductions found for single-base substitutionsreported below, suggesting (with other data reported below) that thishelix serves primarily a structural role that aids the positioning ofcrucial groups in Loop 2.

Testing the SELEX consensus for Stem 1. Various nucleotide substitutionsin the conserved Stem 1 were prepared and their affinity to HIV-RTdetermined. As shown in FIG. 3, substitution of an A for U1 in modelRNAs made little difference in affinity for HIV-RT. C (which wouldincrease the stability of Stem 1) or G (represented by the U deletionexperiment above) at this position resulted in approximately 20-foldlowering in affinity. Substitution of A for G16 (which would base-pairto U1) abolished specific binding. A G-C pair was substituted for C2-G15which also abolished binding and for C3-G14 which reduced binding about10-fold. These two positions were highly conserved in the phylogeny ofSELEX ligands. Various combinations were substituted for the G4-C13 basepair. The order of affect of these on affinity wereG4-C13═C-G>U-A>A-U>>>>A-C where A-U is about 20-fold reduced in affinitycompared to G4-C13 and A-C is at least 100-fold reduced. These resultsare consistent with the SELEX consensus determined previously.

Chemical probing of the pseudoknot structure. A number of chemicalmodification experiments were conducted to probe the native structure ofligand B, to identify chemical modifications that significantly reducedaffinity of ligand B for HIV-RT, and to discover changes in structurethat may accompany binding by HIV-RT. The chemicals used wereethylnitrosourea (ENU) which modifies phosphates, dimethyl sulfate (DMS)which modifies the base-pairing faces of C (at N3) and A (at N1),carbodiimide (CMCT) which modifies the base-pairing face of U (at N3)and to some extent G (at N1), diethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC) which modifiesN7 of A and to a lesser extent the N7 of G, and kethoxal which modifiesthe base-pairing N1 and N2 of G. Most of the assays of chemicalmodification were done on a ligand B sequence which was lengthened toinclude sequences to which a labeled primer could be annealed andextended with AMV reverse transcriptase. Assay of ENU or DEPC modifiedpositions were done on ligand B by respective modification-dependenthydrolysis, or modified base removal followed by aniline scission of thebackbone at these sites.

The results of probing the native structure as compared to modificationof denatured ligand B are summarized in FIG. 4. The pattern of ENUmodification was not different between denatured native states of theligand suggesting that there is no stable involvement of the phosphatesor N7 positions of purines in the solution structure of the pseudoknot.The other modification data suggest that Stem 2 forms rather stably andis resistant to any chemical modifications affecting the base-pairsshown, although the terminal A6-U26 is somewhat sensitive tomodification indicating equilibration between base-paired and denaturedstates at this position. The single-stranded As (A5, A17, A18, A19, andA20) are fully reactive with DMS although A5, A19, and A20 arediminished in reactivity to DEPC. The base-pairs of Stem 1 seem toexhibit a gradation of resistance to modification such thatG4-C13>C3-G14>C2-G15>U1-G16 where G4-C13 is completely resistant tochemical modification and U1-G16 is highly reactive. This suggests thatthis small helix of the pseudoknot undergoes transient and directionaldenaturation or "fraying".

Protection of ligand B from chemical modification by HIV-RT. Binding ofprotein changes the fraying character of Helix I as shown in FIG. 5either by stabilizing or protecting it. The natively reactive U1 is alsoprotected upon binding. Binding of protein increases the sensitivity ofthe base-pair A6-U26 suggesting that this is unpaired in the boundstate. This may be an indication of insufficient length of a singlenucleotide Loop I during binding, either because it cannot bridge thebound Stem 1 to the end of Stem 2 in the native pseudoknot recognized byRT or because binding increases the length requirement of Loop I bychanging the conformation from the native state. A17 and A19 of Loop IIare also protected by binding to HIV-RT. In addition, the single basebridge A12 is protected upon binding.

Modification interference studies of the RT ligand B. The RNA ligand Bwas partially modified (with all of the chemicals mentioned above forstructure determination). This modified population was bound withvarying concentrations of the protein, and the bound species wereassayed for the modified positions. From this, it can be determinedwhere modification interferes with binding, and where there is no orlittle effect. A schematic diagram summarizing these modificationinterference results is shown in FIG. 6. As shown, most of thesignificant interference with binding is clustered on the left hand sideof the pseudoknot which contains the Stem 1 and Loop 2. This is also thepart of the molecule that was highly conserved (primary sequence) in thecollection of sequences isolated by SELEX and where substitutionexperiments produced the most drastic reduction in binding affinity toHIV-RT.

Substitution of 2'-methoxy for 2'-hydroxyl on riboses of ligand B. "RNA"molecules in which there is a 2'-methoxy bonded to the 2' carbon of theribose instead of the normal hydroxyl group are resistant to enzymaticand chemical degradation. In order to test how extensively 2'-methoxyscan be substituted for 2'-OH's in RT ligands, four oligos were preparedas shown in FIG. 7. Because fully substituted 2'-methoxy ligand bindspoorly (ligand D), and because we had found that most of themodification interference sites were clustered at one end of thepseudoknot, subsequent attempts to substitute were confined to thenon-specific 3' helix as shown in boxes B and C. Both of these ligandsbind with high affinity to HIV-RT. Oligonucleotides were then preparedin which the allowed substitutions at the ribose of Stem 2 were all2'-methoxy as in C of FIG. 7 and at the remaining 14 positions mixedsynthesis were done with 2'-methoxy and 2'-OH phosphoramidite reagents.These oligos were subjected to selection by HIV-RT followed by alkalinehydrolysis of selected RNAs and gel separation (2'-methoxys do notparticipate in alkaline hydrolysis as do 2'-hydroxyls). As judged byvisual inspection of films (see FIG. 8) and quantitative determinationof relative intensities using an Ambis detection system (see Examplebelow for method of comparison), the ligands selected by HIV-RT from themixed incorporation populations showed significantly increasedhydrolysis at positions C13 and G14 indicating interference by2'-methoxys at these positions. In a related experiment where mixturesat all positions were analyzed in this way, G4, A5, C13 and G14 showed2' 0-methyl interference.

The results of substitution experiments, quantitative boundaryexperiments and chemical probing experiments are highly informativeabout the nature of the pseudoknot inhibitor of HIV-RT and highlightcrucial regions of contact on this RNA. These results are provided on anucleotide by nucleotide basis below.

U1 can be replaced with A with little loss in affinity but not by C orG. Although U1 probably makes transient base-pairing to G16,modification of U1-N3 with CMCT does not interfere with binding toHIV-RT. However, binding by HIV-RT protects the N3 of U1 perhaps bysteric or electrostatic shielding of this position. Substitution with Cwhich forms a more stable base-pair with G16 reduces affinity.Replacement of G16 with A which forms a stable U1-A16 pair abolishesspecific affinity for HIV-RT and modification of G16-N1 stronglyinterferes with binding to HIV-RT. This modification of G16-N1 mustprevent a crucial contact with the protein. Why G substitutions for U1reduce affinity and A substitutions do not is not clear. Admittedly theG substitution is in a context in which the 5' end of the RNA is onenucleotide shorter, however synthetic RNAs in which U1 is the 5'terminal nucleotide bind with unchanged affinity from those in vitrotranscripts with two extra Gs at the 5' end (FIG. 7). Perhaps A at U1replaces a potential U interaction with a similar or differentinteraction with HIV-RT a replacement that cannot be performed by C or Gat this position.

The next base-pair of Stem 1 (C2-G15) cannot be replaced by a G-Cbase-pair without complete loss of specific affinity for HIV-RT.Modification of the base-pairing faces of either nucleotide stronglyinterferes with binding to HIV-RT and binding with HIV-RT protects fromthese modifications. Substitution of the next base-pair, C3-G14, with aG-C pair shows less drastic reduction of affinity, but modification isstrongly interfering at this position. Substitution of a C-G pair forG4-C13 has no effect on binding, and substitution of the less stable A-Uand U-A pairs allow some specific affinity. Substitution of thenon-pairing A-C for these positions abolishes specific binding. Thiscorrelates with the appearance of C-G substitutions and one A-Usubstitution in the original SELEX phylogeny at this position, thenon-reactivity of this base-pair in the native state, and the highdegree of modification interference found for these bases.

The chemical modification data of Loop 2 corroborate well thephylogenetic conservation seen in the original SELEX experiments. Strongmodification interference is seen at positions A17 and A19. Weakmodification interference occurs at A20 which correlates with thefinding of some Loop 2's of the original SELEX that are deleted at thisrelative position (although the chemical interference experimentsconducted do not exhaustively test all potential contacts that a basemay make with HIV-RT). A18 is unconserved in the original SELEX andmodification at this position does not interfere, nor is this positionprotected from modification by binding to HIV-RT.

Taken together the above data suggest that the essential components ofStem 1 are a single-stranded 5' nucleotide (U or A) which may makesequence specific contact with the protein and a three base-pair helix(C2-G15, C3-G14, G4-C13) where there are sequence-specific interactionswith the HIV-RT at the first two base-pairs and a preference for astrong base-pair (i.e. either C-G or G-C) at the third loop closingposition of G4-C13. Loop 2 should be more broadly described as GAXAA(16-20) due to the single-stranded character of G16 which probablyinteracts with HIV-RT in a sequence-specific manner, as likely do A17and A19. Stem 2 varies considerably in the pattern and number ofbase-pairing nucleotides, but from 3' deletion experiments reported hereone could hypothesize that a minimum of 3 base-pairs in Stem 2 arerequired for maximal affinity. Within the context of eight nucleotidesconnecting the two strands comprising the helix of Stem 1, at least 2nucleotides are required in Loop 1 of the bound ligand.

The revised ligand description for HIV-RT obtained based on the methodsof this invention is shown in FIG. 11. The major differences betweenthat shown in FIG. 1 (which is based on the original and secondary SELEXconsensuses) is the length of Stem 2, the more degenerate specificationof the base-pair G4-C13, the size of Loop 1 (which is directly relatedto the size of Stem 2) and the single-stranded character of U1 and G16.

How can these differences be reconciled? Although not limited by theory,the SELEX strategy requires 5' and 3' fixed sequences for replication.In any RNA sequence, such additional sequences increase the potentialfor other conformations that compete with that of the high-affinityligand. As a result, additional structural elements that do not directlycontribute to affinity, such as a lengthened Stem 2, may be selected.Given that the first two base pairs of Stem 1 must be C-G because ofsequence-specific contacts the most stable closing base-pair would beG4-C13 (Freier et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 83:9373-9377 (1986))again selected to avoid conformational ambiguity. The sequence-specificselection of U1 and G16 may be coincidental to their ability tobase-pair; in other nucleic acid ligand-protein complexes such as Klenowfragment/primer-template junction and tRNA/tRNA synthetase there issignificant local denaturation of base-paired nucleotides (Freemont etal., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 85:8924 (1988); Ronald et al., Science,246:1135 (1989)) which may also occur in this case.

VI. Performance of Walking Experiment with HIV-RT Nucleic Acid Ligand toIdentify Extended Nucleic Acid Ligands.

It had previously been found that fixed sequences (of 28 nucleotides)placed 5' to the pseudoknot consensus ligand reduced the affinity toHIV-RT and that sequences (of 31 nucleotides) added 3' to the ligandincreased that affinity. A SELEX experiment was therefore performed inwhich a 30 nucleotide variable region was added 3' to the ligand Bsequence to see if a consensus of higher affinity ligands against HIV-RTcould be obtained. Individual isolates were cloned and sequenced afterthe sixteenth round. The sequences are listed in FIG. 9 grouped in twomotifs. A schematic diagram of the secondary structure and primarysequence conservation of each motif is shown in FIG. 10. The distancebetween the RNase H and polymerase catalytic domains of HIV-RT hasrecently been determined to be on the order of 18 base-pairs of anA-form RNA-DNA hybrid docked (by computer) in the pocket of a 3.5 Åresolution structure derived from X-ray crystallography (Kohlstaedt etal. Science, 256:1783-1790, (1992)). The distance from the cluster ofbases determined to be crucial to this interaction in the pseudoknot andthe conserved bases in the extended ligand sequence is approximately 18base-pairs as well. Accordingly, it is concluded that the pseudoknotinteracts with the polymerase catalytic site--in that the ligand hasbeen shown to bind HIV-RT deleted for the RNAse H domain--and that theevolved extension to the pseudoknot may interact with the RNAse Hdomain. In general the ligands tested from each of these motifs increaseaffinity of the ligand B sequence to HIV-RT by at least 10-fold.

VII. ELUCIDATION OF AN IMPROVED NUCLEIC ACID LIGAND FOR HIV-1 REVPROTEIN.

An example of the methods of the present invention are presented hereinfor the nucleic acid ligand for HIV-1 Rev protein. U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 07/714,131 describes the results obtained whenSELEX was performed with the Rev target. Inspection of the nucleic acidsequences that were found to have a high affinity to Rev revealed agrouping of these sequences into three Motifs (I,II, and III). Ligandsof Motif I seemed to be a composite of the individual motifs describedby Motifs II and III, and in general bound with higher affinity to Rev.One of the Motif I ligand sequences (Rev ligand sequence 6a) bound withsignificantly higher affinity than all of the ligands that were clonedand sequenced. As shown in FIG. 12, the 6a sequence is hypothesized toform a bulge between two helices with some base-pairing across thisbulge.

Described herein are chemical modification experiments performed onligand 6a designed to confirm the proposed secondary structure, findwhere binding of the Rev protein protects the ligand from chemicalattack, and detect the nucleotides essential for Rev interaction. Inaddition, a secondary SELEX experiment was conducted with biasedrandomization of the 6a ligand sequence so as to more comprehensivelydescribe a consensus for the highest affinity binding to the HIV-1 Revprotein.

Chemical modification of the Rev ligand. Chemical modification studiesof the Rev ligand 6a were undertaken to determine its possible secondarystructural elements, to find which modifications interfere with thebinding of the ligand by Rev, to identify which positions are protectedfrom modification upon protein binding, and to detect possible changesin ligand structure that occur upon binding.

The modifying chemicals include ethylnitrosourea (ENU) which modifiesphosphates, dimethyl sulfate (DMS) which modifies the base-pairingpositions N3 of C and N1 of adenine, kethoxal which modifiesbase-pairing positions N1 and N2 of guanine, carbodiimide (CMCT) whichmodifies base-paring position N3 of uracil and to a smaller extent theN1 position of guanine, and diethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC) which modifiesthe N7 position of adenine and to some extent also the N7 of guanine.ENU modification was assayed by modification-dependent hydrolysis of alabeled RNA chain, while all other modifying agents were used on anextended RNA ligand, with modified positions revealed by primerextension of an annealed oligonucleotide.

The chemical probing of the Rev ligand native structure is summarized inFIG. 13. The computer predicted secondary structure Zuker (1989),Science 244:48-52; Jaeger et al. (1989), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA86:7706-7710 and native modification data are in general agreement; theligand is composed of three helical regions, one four-base hairpin loop,and three "bulge" regions (see FIG. 13 for a definition of thesestructural "elements").

ENU modification of phosphates was unchanged for ligands under nativeand denaturing conditions, indicating no involvement of phosphate groupsin the secondary or tertiary structure of the RNA. In general, allcomputer-predicted base-pairing regions are protected from modification.One exception is the slight modifications of N7 (G¹⁰, A¹¹, G¹²) in thecentral helix (normally a protected position in helices). Thesemodifications are possibly a result of helical breathing; the absence ofbase-pairing face modifications in the central helix suggest that the N7accessibility is due to small helical distortions rather than acomplete, local unfolding of the RNA. The G¹⁹ -U²² hairpin loop is fullymodified, except for somewhat partial modification of G¹⁹.

The most interesting regions in the native structure are the three"bulge" regions, U⁸ -U⁹, A¹³ -A¹⁴ -A¹⁵, and G²⁶ -A²⁷. U⁸ -U⁹ are fullymodified by CMCT, possibly indicating base orientations into solvent.A¹³, A¹⁴, and A¹⁵ are all modified by DMS and DEPC with the strongestmodifications occurring on the central A¹⁴. The bulge opposite to theA¹³ -A¹⁵ region shows complete protection of G²⁶ and very slightmodification of A²⁷ by DMS. One other investigation of Rev-binding RNAs(Bartel et al. (1991) Cell 67:529-536) has argued for the existence ofA:A and A:G non canonical base pairing, corresponding in the presentligand to A¹³ :A²⁷ and A¹⁵ :G²⁶. These possibilities are not ruled outby this modification data, although the isosteric A:A base pairsuggested by Bartel et al. would use the N1A positions for base-pairingand would thus be resistant to DMS treatment. Also, an A:G pair wouldlikely use either a N1A or N7A for pairing, leaving the A resistant toDMS or DEPC.

Modification interference of Rev binding. The results of themodification interference studies is summarized in FIG. 14 (quantitativedata on individual modifying agents is presented in FIGS. 15 through19). In general, phosphate and base modification binding interference isclustered into two regions of the RNA ligand. To a first approximation,these regions correspond to two separate motifs present in the SELEXexperiments that preceded this present study. Phosphate modificationinterference is probably the most suggestive of actual sites forligand-protein contacts, and constitutes an additional criterion for thegrouping of the modification interference data into regions.

The first region is centered on U²⁴ -G²⁵ -G²⁶, and includes interferencedue to phosphate, base-pairing face, and N7 modifications. These samethree nucleotides, conserved in the wild-type RRE, were also found to becritical for Rev binding in a modification interference study usingshort RNAs containing the RRE IIB stem loop (Kjems et al. (1992) EMBO J.11(3):1119-1129). The second region centers around G¹⁰ -A¹¹ -G¹² withinterference again from phosphate, base-pairing face, and N7modifications. Additionally, there is a smaller "mini-region"encompassing the stretch C⁶ -A⁷ -U⁸, with phosphate and base-pairingface modifications interfering with binding.

Throughout the ligand, many base-pairing face modifications showedbinding interference, most likely because of perturbations in theligand's secondary structure. Two of the "bulge" bases, U⁹ and A¹⁴, didnot exhibit modification interference, indicating that both have neithera role in specific base-pairing interactions/stacking nor in contactingthe protein.

Chemical modification protection when RNA is bound to Rev. The"footprinting" chemical modification data is summarized in FIG. 20. Fourpositions, U⁸, A¹³, A¹⁵, and A²⁷, showed at least two-fold reduction inmodification of base-pairing faces (and a like reduction in N7modification for the A positions) while bound to Rev protein. The slightN7 modifications of G¹⁰ -A¹¹ -G¹² under native conditions were notdetected when the ligand was modified in the presence of Rev. G³²,unmodified in chemical probing of the RNA native structure, shows strongmodification of its base-pairing face and the N7 position when complexedwith Rev. U³¹ and U³³, 5' and 3' of G³², show slight CMCT modificationwhen the ligand is bound to protein.

Secondary SELEX using biased randomization of template. A template wassynthesized as shown in FIG. 21 in which the Rev ligand 6a sequence wasmixed with the other three nucleotides at each position in the ratio of62.5 (for the 6a sequence) to 12.5 for each of the other threenucleotides. This biased template gave rise to RNAs with backgroundaffinity for Rev protein (Kd=10⁻⁷). Six rounds of SELEX yielded the listof sequences shown in FIG. 21. The frequency distribution of thenucleotides and base pairs found at each position as it differs fromthat expected from the input distribution during template synthesis isshown in FIGS. 22 and 23. A new consensus based on these data is shownin FIG. 24. The most significant differences from the sequence of Revligand 6a are replacement of the relatively weak base pair A7-U31 with aG-C pair and allowed or preferred substitution of U9 with C, A14 with U,U22 with G. Absolutely conserved positions are at sites G10, A11, G12;A15, C16, A17; U24, G25; and C28, U29, C30. No bases were foundsubstituted for G26 and A25, although there was one and three deletionsfound at those positions respectively. Two labeled transcripts weresynthesized, one with a simple ligand 6a-like sequence, and one withsubstitutions by the significant preferences found in FIG. 24. TheseRNAs bound identically to Rev protein.

Most of the substitutions in the stem region increase its stability.There does not seem to be significant selection of stems of lengthlonger than 5 base-pairs although this could be a selection forreplicability (for ease of replication during the reverse transcriptionstep of SELEX, for example). There is some scattered substitution ofother nucleotides for U9 in the original SELEX reported in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 07/714,131 filed Jun. 10, 1991, but this experimentshows preferred substitution with C. Deletions of A27 also appeared inthat original SELEX. A surprising result is the appearance of C18-Apairings in place of C18-G23 at a high frequency.

The reason there may be preferences found in this experiment that do notimprove measured binding affinity may lie in the differences in thebinding reactions of SELEX and these binding assays. In SELEX arelatively concentrated pool of heterogeneous RNA sequences (flanked bythe requisite fixed sequences) are bound to the protein. In bindingassays low concentrations of homogeneous RNA sequence are bound. InSELEX there may be selection for more discriminating conformationalcertainty due to the increased probability of intermolecular andintramolecular contacts with other RNA sequences. In the therapeuticdelivery of concentrated doses of RNA ligands and their modifiedhomologs, these preferences found in secondary SELEXes may be relevant.

EXAMPLE I: ELUCIDATION OF IMPROVED NUCLEIC ACID LIGAND SOLUTION FORHIV-RT

RNA synthesis. In vitro transcription with oligonucleotide templates wasconducted as described by Milligan et al. (1988). All synthetic nucleicacids were made on an Applied Biosystems model 394-08 DNA/RNAsynthesizer using standard protocols. Deoxyribonucleotidephosphoramidites and DNA synthesis solvents and reagents were purchasedfrom Applied Biosystems. Ribonucleotide and 2'-methoxy-ribonucleotidephosphoramidites were purchased from Glen Research Corporation. Formixed base positions, 0.1M phosphoramidite solutions were mixed byvolume to the proportions indicated. Base deprotection was carried outat 55° C. for 6 hours in 3:1 ammonium hydroxide:ethanol.t-butyl-dimethylsilyl protecting groups were removed from the 2'-OHgroups of synthetic RNAs by overnight treatment in tetrabutylamnoniumfluoride. The deprotected RNAs were then phenol extracted, ethanolprecipitated and purified by gel electrophoresis.

Affinity assays with labeled RNA and HIV-RT. Model RNAs for refinementof the 5' and 3' boundaries and for determination of the effect ofsubstitutions were labeled during transcription with T7 RNA polymeraseas described in Tuerk et al. (1990) except that a-³² P-ATP was used, inreactions of 0.5 mM C,G, and UTP with 0.05 mM ATP. Syntheticoligonucleotides and phosphatased transcripts (as in Tuerk et al., 1990)were kinased as described in Gauss et al. (1987). All RNA-proteinbinding reactions were done in a "binding buffer" of 200 mM KOAc, 50 mMTris-HCl pH 7.7, 10 mM dithiothreitol with exceptions noted for chemicalprotection experiments below. RNA and protein dilutions were mixed andstored on ice for 30 minutes then transferred to 37° C. for 5 minutes.In binding assays the reaction volume was 60 μl of which 50 μl wasassayed. Each reaction was suctioned through a pre-wet (with bindingbuffer) nitrocellulose filter and rinsed with 3 mls of binding bufferafter which it was dried and counted for assays or subjected to elutionand assayed for chemical modification. In comparisons of bindingaffinity, results were plotted and the protein concentration at whichhalf-maximal binding occurred (the approximate Kd in conditions ofprotein excess) was determined graphically.

Selection of modified RNAs by HIV-RT. Binding reactions were as aboveexcept that rather than to vary the amount of HIV-RT added to areaction, the volume of reaction was increased in order to lowerconcentration. RNAs that were modified under denaturing conditions wereselected at concentrations of 20, 4 and 0.8 nanomolar HIV-RT (in volumesof 1, 5 and 25 mls of binding buffer.) The amount of RNA added to eachreaction was equivalent for each experiment (approximately 1-5picomoles). RNA was eluted from filters as described in Tuerk et al.(1990) and assayed for modified positions. In each experiment a controlwas included in which unselected RNA was spotted on a filter, eluted andassayed for modified positions in parallel with the selected RNAs.Determinations of variation in chemical modification for selected versusunselected RNAs were made by visual inspection of exposed films ofelectrophoresed assay products with the following exceptions. The extentof modification interference by ENU was determined by densitometricscanning of films using an LKB laser densitomer. An index ofmodification interference (M.I.) at each position was calculated asfollows:

M.I.=(O.D.unselected/O.D.unselected

A20)/(O.D.selected/O.D.selected A20)

where the value at each position assayed for selected modified RNA(O.D.selected) is divided by that value for position A20 (O.D.selectedA20) and divided into likewise normalized values for the unselectedlane. All values of M.I. greater than 2.0 are reported as interferingand greater than 4.0 as strongly interfering. In determination of theeffects of mixed substitution of 2'-methoxys for 2' hydroxyls (on theribose at each nucleotide position) gels of electrophoresed hydrolysisproducts were counted on an Ambis detection system directly. The countsassociated with each band within a lane were normalized as shown abovebut for position A17. In addition, determinations were done by laserdensitometry as described below.

Chemical modification of RNA. A useful review of the types of chemicalmodifications of RNA and their specificities and methods of assay wasdone by Ehresmann et al. (1987). Modification of RNA under nativeconditions was done at 200 mM KOAc, 50 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.7 at 37° C. withethylnitrosourea {ENU} (1/5 dilution v/v of room temperatureENU-saturated ethanol) for 1-3 hours, dimethyl sulfate {DMS} (1/750-folddilution v/v) for eight minutes, kethoxal (0.5 mg/ml) for eight minutes,carbodiimide {CMCT} (8 mg/ml) for 20 minutes, and diethyl pyrocarbonate{DEPC} (1/10 dilution v/v for native conditions or 1/100 dilution fordenaturing conditions) for 45 minutes, and under the same conditionsbound to HIV-RT with the addition of 1 mM DTT. The concentrations ofmodifying chemical reagent were identical for denaturing conditions(except where noted for DEPC); those conditions were 7M urea, 50 mMTris-HCl pH 7.7, 1 mM EDTA at 90° C. for 1-5 minutes except duringmodification with ENU which was done in the absence of 7M urea.

Assay of chemical modification. Positions of chemical modification wereassayed by reverse transcription for DMS, kethoxal and CMCT on thelengthened ligand B RNA,5'-GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUAUGAAAGAAU-UUUAUAUCUCUAUUG AAAC-3' (SEQID NO:4) (the ligand B sequence is underlined), to which is annealed theoligonucleotide primer 5'-CCGGATCCGTTTCAATAGAG-ATATAAAATTC-3'; reversetranscription products (obtained as in Gauss et al., 1987) wereseparated by electrophoresis on 10% polyacrylamide gels. Positions ofENU and DEPC modification were assayed as in Vlassov et al. (1980) andPeattie and Gilbert (1980) respectively (separated by electrophoresis on20% polyacrylamide gels). Assay of 2'-methoxy ribose versus ribose atvarious positions was assayed by alkaline hydrolysis for 45 minutes at90° C. in 50 mM sodium carbonate pH 9.0.

Modification of RNA in the Presence of HIV-RT. Conditions were as formodification of native RNA. Concentrations of HIV-RT were approximately10-fold excess over RNA concentration. In general protein concentrationsranged from 50 nM to 1 μM.

SELEX isolation of accessory contacts with HIV-RT. The starting RNA wastranscribed from PCRd templates synthesized from the followingoligonucleotides:

    __________________________________________________________________________    5'-GGGCAAGCTTTAATACGACTCACTATAGGTCCGAAGTGCAACGGGAAAATG-CACT-3'                (5' primer) (SEQ ID NO:6)                                                     5'-GTTTCAATAGAGATATAAAATTCTTTCATAG-3' (3' primer), (SEQ ID NO:7)              5'-GTTTCAATAGAGATATAAAATTCTTTCATAG- 30N!AGTGCATTTTCCCGTTGC-ACTTCGGACC-3'      (variable template), (SEQ ID NO:8)                                            __________________________________________________________________________

SELEX was performed as described previously with HIV-RT with thefollowing exceptions. The concentration of HIV-RT in the bindingreaction of the first SELEX round was 13 nanomolar, RNA at 10micromolar, in 4 mls of binding buffer, in the rounds 2 through 9selection was done with 2.6 nanomolar HIV-RT, 1.8 micromolar RNA in 20mls of buffer, in rounds 10-14 we used 1 nanomolar HIV-RT, 0.7micromolar RNA in 50 mls, and for rounds 15 and 16 we used 0.5 nanomolarHIV-RT, 0.7 micromolar RNA in 50 mls of binding buffer.

REFERENCES TO EXAMPLE I:

Ehresman, C., Baudin, F., Mougel, M., Romby, P., Ebel, J-P. Ehresman, B.(1987) Probing the structure of RNAs in solution. Nuc. Acids. Res.15:9109-9128.

Freemont, P. S., Friedman, J. M., Beese, M. R., Sanderson, M. P. andSteitz, T. A. (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:8924.

Freier, S. M., Kierzed, R., Jaeger, J. A., Suigimoto, N., Caruthers, M.H., Neilson, T., and Turner, D.H. (1986) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA83:9373-9377.

Gauss, P., Gayle, M., Winter, R. B., Gold, L. (1987) Mol. Gen. Genet.206:24.

Kohlstaedt, L. A., Wang, J., Friedman, J. M., Rice, P. A. and Steitz, T.A. (1992) Crystal structure at 3.5 A resolution of HIV-1 reversetranscriptase complexed with an inhibitor. Science 256:1783-1790.

Milligan, J. F., Groebe, D. R., Witherell, G. W. and Uhlenbeck, O. C.(1987) Oligoribonucleotide synthesis using T7 RNA polymerase andsynthetic DNA templates. Nucleic Acids Res. 15:8783-8798.

Moazed, D., Stern, S. and Noller, H. (1986) Rapid chemical probing ofconformation in 16S ribosomal RNA and 30S ribosomal subunits usingprimer extension. J. Mol. Biol. 187:399-416.

Peattie, D. and Gilbert, W. (1980) Chemical probes for higher orderstructure in RNA. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 77:4679-4682.

Peattie, D. and Herr, W. (1981) Chemical probing of the tRNA-ribosomecomplex. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 78:2273-2277.

Roald, M. A., Perona, J., Soll, D. and Steitz, T. A. (1989) Science246:1135.

Tuerk, C., Eddy, S., Parma, D. and Gold, L. (1990) The translationaloperator of bacteriophage T4 DNA polymerase. J. Mol. Biol. 213:749.

Tuerk, C. and Gold, L. (1990) Systematic evolution of ligands byexponential enrichment: RNA ligands to bacteriophage T4 DNA polymerase.Science 249:505-510.

Tuerk, C., MacDougal, S. and Gold, L. (1992) RNA pseudoknots thatinhibit HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA89:6988-6992.

Vlassov, V., Giege, R. and Ebel, J.-P. (1980) The tertiary structure ofyeast tRNAPhe in solution studied by phosphodiester bond modificationwith ethylnitrosourea. FEBS 120:12-16.

EXAMPLE II: ELUCIDATION OF IMPROVED NUCLEIC ACID LIGAND SOLUTIONS FORHIV-1 REV PROTEIN

The Rev ligand sequence used for chemical modification is shown in FIG.12 (the numbering scheme shown will be used hereinafter). RNA formodification was obtained from T7 RNA polymerase transcription ofsynthetic oligonucleotide templates. ENU modification was carried out onthe ligand sequence as shown in FIG. 12. DMS, kethoxal, CMCT, and DEPCmodifications were carried out on a extended ligand sequence, andanalyzed by reverse transcription with the synthetic oligonucleotideprimer shown in FIG. 12.

Chemical Modification of RNA. Chemical modification techniques fornucleic acids are described in general in Ehresmann et al. (1987) Nuc.Acids. Res. 15:9109-9128. Modification of RNA under native conditionswas performed in 200 mM KOAc, 50 mM TrisHCl pH 7.7, 1 mM EDTA at 37° C.Modification under denaturing conditions was done in 7M urea, 50 mMTris-HCl pH 7.7 at 90° C. Concentration of modifying agents andincubation times are as follows: ethylnitrosourea (ENU)-1/5 dilution v/vof ethanol saturated with ENU, native 1-3 hours, denaturing 5 minutes;dimethyl sulfate (DMS)1/750-fold dilution v/v, native 8 minutes,denaturing 1 minute; kethoxal- 0.5 mg/ml, native 5 minutes, denaturing 2minutes; carbodiimide (CMCT)- 10 mg/ml, native 30 minutes, denaturing 3minutes; diethyl pyrocarbonate (DEPC)- 1/10 dilution v/v, native 10minutes, denaturing 1 minute.

Modification interference of Rev binding. RNAs chemically modified underdenaturing conditions were selected for Rev binding through filterpartitioning. Selections were carried out at Rev concentrations of 30,6, and 1.2 nanomolar (in respective volumes of 1, 5, and 25 mls ofbinding buffer; 200 mM KOAc, 50 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.7, and 10 mMdithiothreitol). Approximately 3 picomoles of modified RNA were added toeach protein solution, mixed and stored on ice for 15 minutes, and thentransferred to 37° C. for 10 minutes. Binding solutions were passedthrough pre-wet nitrocellulose filters, and rinsed with 5 mls of bindingbuffer. RNA was eluted from the filters as described in Tuerk et al.(1990) Science 24:505-510 and assayed for modified positions thatremained. Modified RNA was also spotted on filters and eluted to checkfor uniform recovery of modified RNA.

The extent of modification interference was determined by densitometricscanning of autoradiographs using LKB (ENU) and Molecular Dynamics (DMS,kethoxal, CMCT, and DEPC) laser densitometers. Values for modifiedphosphates and bases were normalized to a chosen modified position forboth selected and unselected lanes; the values for the modifiedpositions in the selected lane were then divided by the correspondingpositions in the unselected lane (for specific normalizing positions seeFIGS. 15-19). Values above 4.0 for modified bases and phosphates aredesignated as strongly interfering, and values above 2.0 are termedslightly interfering.

Modification of RNA in the presence of Rev. "Footprinting" of the Revligand, modification of the RNA ligand in the presence of Rev protein,was performed in 200 mM KOAc, 50 mM Tris-Cl pH 7.7, 1 mM DTT, and 5 mMMgCl₂. Concentration of protein was 500 nanomolar, and approximately in3-fold molar excess over RNA concentration. Modification with proteinpresent was attempted with all modifying agents listed above exceptethylnitrosourea (ENU).

Assay of chemically modified RNA. Positions of ENU modification weredetected as in Vlassov et al. (1980) FEBS 120:12-16 and separated byelectrophoresis on 20% denaturing acrylamide gels. DMS, kethoxal, CMCT,and DEPC were assayed by reverse transcription of the extended Revligand with a radiolabelled oligonucleotide primer (FIG. 12) andseparated by electrophoresis on 8% denaturing acrylamide gels.

SELEX with biased randomization. The templates for in vitrotranscription were prepared by PCR from the following oligonucleotides:

    __________________________________________________________________________    5'-CCCGGATCCTCTTTACCTCTGTGTGagatacagagtccacaaacgtgttc                         tcaatgcacccGGTCGGAAGGCCATCAATAGTCCC-3' (template oligo) (SEQ ID NO 9)         5'-CCGAAGCTTAATACGACTCACTATAGGGACTATTGATGGCCTTCCGACC-3'                       (5' primer) (SEQ ID NO:10)                                                    5'-CCCGGATCCTCTTTACCTCTGTGTG-3' (3' primer)                                   __________________________________________________________________________

where the small case letters in the template oligo indicates that ateach position that a mixture of reagents were used in synthesis by anamount of 62.5% of the small case letter, and 12.5% each of the otherthree nucleotides.

SELEX was conducted as described previously with the followingexceptions. The concentration of HIV-1 Rev protein in the bindingreactions of the first and second rounds was 7.2 nanomolar and the RNA 4micromolar in a volume of 10 mls (of 200 mM potassium acetate, 50 mMTris-HCl pH 7.7, 10 mM DTT). For rounds three through six theconcentration of Rev protein was 1 nanomolar and the RNA 1 micromolar in40 mls volume. HIV-1 Rev protein was purchased from AmericanBiotechnologies, Inc.

    __________________________________________________________________________    SEQUENCE LISTING                                                              (1) GENERAL INFORMATION:                                                      (iii) NUMBER OF SEQUENCES: 83                                                 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:1:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 21 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:1:                                       UUCCGNNNNNNNNCGGGAAAA21                                                       (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:2:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 24 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:2:                                       UCCGNNNNNNNNCGGGAAAANNNN24                                                    (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:3:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 27 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:3:                                       NNUUCCGNNNNNNNNCGGGAAAANNNN27                                                 (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:4:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 57 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:4:                                       GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUA50                          UUGAAAC57                                                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:5:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 31 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:5:                                       CCGGATCCGTTTCAATAGAGATATAAAATTC31                                             (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:6:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 55 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:6:                                       GGGCAAGCTTTAATACGACTCACTATAGGTCCGAAGTGCAACGGGAAAAT50                          GCACT55                                                                       (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:7:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 31 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:7:                                       GTTTCAATAGAGATATAAAATTCTTTCATAG31                                             (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:8:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 89 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:8:                                       GTTTCAATAGAGATATAAAATTCTTTCATAGNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN50                          NNNNNNNNNNNAGTGCATTTTCCCGTTGCACTTCGGACC89                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:9:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 85 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:9:                                       CCCGGATCCTCTTTACCTCTGTGTGAGATACAGAGTCCACAAACGTGTTC50                          TCAATGCACCCGGTCGGAAGGCCATCAATAGTCCC85                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:10:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 49 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:10:                                      CCGAAGCTTAATACGACTCACTATAGGGACTATTGATGGCCTTCCGACC49                           (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:11:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 25 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:11:                                      CCCGGATCCTCTTTACCTCTGTGTG25                                                   (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:12:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 23 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (ix) FEATURE:                                                                 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: N's at positions 9-11 are base                         paired with N's at positions                                                  21-23                                                                         (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:12:                                      UCCSANNNNNNASGGGANAANNN23                                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:13:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 66 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (iii) MOLECULE TYPE: RNA                                                      (ix) FEATURE:                                                                 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: N at position 29-36 can have a                         variable length of 6-8 bases                                                  (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:13:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGGAAAAUGCACNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN50                          NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN66                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:14:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 88 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:14:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUAGCUCGUGAGGCUUUCGUGCUG50                          UUCCGAGCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC88                                      (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:15:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 87 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:15:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUGCAUGUGAGGCGGUAACGCUGU50                          UCCGUGCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC87                                       (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:16:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 89 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:16:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUGGUGAGUGAGGCCGAUGCUGUU50                          CCUCGCCGCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC89                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:17:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 91 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:17:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUGACGCGCGAGGUCUUGGUACUG50                          UUCCGUGGCUCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC91                                   (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:18:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 89 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:18:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUCUGGGUGAGACUUGAAGUCGUU50                          CCCCAGGUCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC89                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:19:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 89 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:19:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUCCCGGUGAAGCAUAAUGCUGUU50                          CCUGGGGUCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC89                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:20:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 89 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:20:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUGGGAGUGAGGUUCCCCGUUCCU50                          CCCGCACCCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC89                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:21:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 89 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:21:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUAGCGAUGUGAAGUGAUACUGGU50                          CCAUCGUGCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC89                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:22:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 88 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:22:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUCACAGUGAGCCUUCUGGUGGUC50                          CUGUGUGCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC88                                      (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:23:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 89 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:23:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUUGUUGUGAGUGGUUGAUUCCAU50                          GGUCCAACCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC89                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:24:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 89 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:24:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUGCCUGUGAGCUGUUUAGCGGUC50                          CAGGUCGUCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC89                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:25:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 88 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:25:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUCAAGGCGAAGACUUAGUCUGCU50                          CCCUGUGCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC88                                      (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:26:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 88 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:26:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUUGCGUCGAAGUUAAUUCUGGUC50                          GAUGCCACUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC88                                      (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:27:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 90 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:27:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUUUCAAUGAGGUAUGUAAUGAUG50                          GUCGUGCGCCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC90                                    (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:28:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 89 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:28:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUGCGGGAGAGUCUUUUGACGUUG50                          CUCCUGCGCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC89                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:29:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 88 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:29:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUCAUGGGAGCCCAUCGAUUCUGG50                          GUGUUGCCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC88                                      (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:30:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 88 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:30:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUUGCACAGAGCCAAAUUUGGUGU50                          UGCUGUGCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC88                                      (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:31:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 89 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:31:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUGGCCAGAGCUUAAAUUCAAGUG50                          UUGCUGGCCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC89                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:32:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 89 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:32:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUCAUAGCAGUCCUUGAUACUAUG50                          GAUGGUGGCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC89                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:33:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 89 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:33:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUGGAUGCAAGUUAACUCUGGUGG50                          CAUCCGUCCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC89                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:34:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 88 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:34:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUCAGUGGAGAUUAAGCCUCGCUA50                          GGGGCCGCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC88                                      (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:35:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 34 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (ix) FEATURE:                                                                 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: Y at position 7 is either U or                         (ix) FEATURE:                                                                 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: S at position 1 is base paired                         to the S at position 34                                                       (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:35:                                      SUGCGUYGAGAUACACNNNGGUGGACUCCCGCAS34                                          (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:36:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 26 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: RNA                                                       (ix) FEATURE:                                                                 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: The N's as positions 6-11 are                          base paired to the N's at                                                     positions 21- 26                                                              (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:36:                                      UCCGANNNNNNACGGGANAANNNNNN26                                                  (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:37:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 89 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: RNA                                                       (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:37:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN50                          NNNNNNNNCUAUGAAAGAAUUUUAUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC89                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:38:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 51 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: RNA                                                       (ix) FEATURE:                                                                 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: N's at postiions 29-32 are                             based paired with N's at                                                      positions 48- 51                                                              (ix) FEATURE:                                                                 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: N's at postiions 38-39 are                             based paired with N's at                                                      positions 40- 41                                                              (ix) FEATURE:                                                                 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: N at position 44 is either G                           or U                                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:38:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUNNNNGUGARNNNNUGNUCCNNN50                          N51                                                                           (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:39:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 54 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: RNA                                                       (ix) FEATURE:                                                                 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: N's at postiions 29-34 are                             based paired with N's at                                                      positions 48- 53                                                              (ix) FEATURE:                                                                 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: N's at postiions 37-39 are                             based paired with N's at                                                      positions 40- 42                                                              (ix) FEATURE:                                                                 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: N at position 45 is either G                           or U                                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:39:                                      GGUCCGAAGUGCAACGGGAAAAUGCACUNNNNNNAGNNNNNNUGNUGNNN50                          NNNN54                                                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:40:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 37 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:40:                                      GGGUGCAUUGAGAAACACGUUUGUGGACUCUGUAUCU37                                       (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:41:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 66 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:41:                                      GGGUGCAUUGAGAAACACGUUUGUGGACUCUGUAUCUAUGAAAGAAUUUU50                          AUAUCUCUAUUGAAAC66                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:42:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 23 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:42:                                      GTTTCAATAGAGATATAAAATTC23                                                     (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:43:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:43:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN50                          NNNNNNNNNNNCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:44:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:44:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCGGGUGCAUUGAGAAACACGUUUGUGG50                          ACUCUGUAUCUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:45:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 84 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:45:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCUGGUGCGUUGAGAAACAGGUUUUUGG50                          ACUCCGUACCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG84                                          (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:46:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:46:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCGUAUGCAUUGAGAGACACACUUGUGG50                          ACUCUGCAUCCCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:47:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:47:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCAGAUGGAUUGAGAAACACUAUUAUGG50                          ACUCUCCAUCGCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:48:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:48:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCAGCUUCGUCGAGAUACACGUUGAUGG50                          ACUCCGAAGCACACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:49:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:49:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCUCGUACGUUGAGAAACAAGUUUAUGG50                          ACUCCGUACCUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:50:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:50:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCUCGAUCGUUGAGAUACACGCUAGUGG50                          ACUCCGAAACUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:51:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:51:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCUACUGCAUCGAGAUACACGUUUGUGG50                          ACUCUGCACAUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:52:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:52:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCUGAUACGUUGAGAAACACAAUGCUGG50                          ACUCCGCAUCCCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:53:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:53:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCGCCUGCAUUGAGAAACAGGAUUCUGG50                          ACUCUGCCACUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:54:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:54:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCCGCUAUGUUGAGAAACACUUUGCUGG50                          ACUCCGUAGCUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:55:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 85 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:55:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCUACUGCAUCGAGAAACACGUAAGUGA50                          CUCUGCAUCCCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG85                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:56:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:56:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCCGGUACGUCGAGAUACACGAAGAUGG50                          ACUCCGUAUCGCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:57:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:57:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCAACUCCAUCGAGAAACACGAUAGUGG50                          ACUCUGGAGCUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:58:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:58:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCGGAGACGUCGAGAAACACGUUUGUGG50                          ACUCCGUCUCUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:59:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:59:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCAGCUACAUCGAGAAACAAGAUUUUGG50                          ACUCUGUAGCGCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:60:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 83 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:60:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCAAGUGCAUUGAGAUACAAAUGAUUGG50                          ACUCUGCACACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG83                                           (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:61:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:61:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCUGCUACGUUGAGAUACACGUUGAUGC50                          ACUCCGUAGCUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:62:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:62:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCAGCUACGUUGAGAUACACGUUACGUG50                          GCUCCGUAGCCCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:63:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:63:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCGAGUGGCUCGAGAAACAGGUUGCUGG50                          ACUCGCCACAUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:64:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:64:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCUCGUGCGUCGAGCAACACGUUGAUGG50                          ACUCCGCACAGCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:65:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:65:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCGGCACCGUUGAGAAACACAUGCGUGG50                          ACUCCGUGCCCCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:66:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:66:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCUCCUGCAUUGAGAAACAGUGAUCUGG50                          ACUCUGCAACUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:67:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 85 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:67:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCUGUGGAUUGAGCAACACGUGAGUGGA50                          CUCUCCACAUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG85                                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:68:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:68:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCCCGUGCGUUGAGACACACACCGAUGG50                          ACUCCGCAUGUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:69:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:69:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCAGCUGCAUCGAGAUACACGAUUGUGG50                          ACUCUGCAGCCCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:70:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 87 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:70:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCAGAUUCGUUGAGAAACACAUGGGUGG50                          ACUCUCCCGCUACACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG87                                       (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:71:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:71:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCAGAUGGAUUGAGAAACACGUUCGUGG50                          ACUCUCCAACUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:72:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:72:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCGACUGCAUCGAGAAACACUGAUGUGG50                          CCUCCGCACGGCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:73:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:73:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCAGCUACGUUGAGAAACAGUAUAAUGG50                          ACUCCGUAGCUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:74:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:74:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCGAGUGCGUCGAGAAACACAUUUGUGG50                          ACUCCGCACACCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:75:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:75:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCUCGUACGUUGAGAAACACGCUAGUGG50                          ACUCCGUAUGUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:76:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:76:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCAGAUACGUUGAGAGACACGCACGUGG50                          ACUCCGUAUCUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:77:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:77:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCAGGAUCACAGAGAAACACCGUGGGUG50                          GCUCCCUCUAUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:78:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 87 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:78:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCGUGCGCAUCGAGAAACACGUUGAUGG50                          ACUCUGCAUGCACACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG87                                       (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:79:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:79:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCGAGAGGAUCGAGAAACACGUAUGUGG50                          ACUCUCCAUCUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:80:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:80:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCGGAUGGAUUGAGACACACGUAUGUGG50                          ACUCUCCAUCACACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:81:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:81:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCUCGGGCAUUGAGAUACACGUAGAUGG50                          ACUCUGUCUCACACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:82:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 86 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:82:                                      GGGACUAUUGAUGGCCUUCCGACCUGGACCGUAGAGAAACACGUUUGAUG50                          GCUCCCUCUGUCACACAGAGGUAAAGAGGAUCCGGG86                                        (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:83:                                             (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                 (A) LENGTH: 29 base pairs                                                     (B) TYPE: nucleic acid                                                        (C) STRANDEDNESS: single                                                      (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                          (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: RNA                                                       (ix) FEATURE:                                                                 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: N's at positions 1-5 are                               paired with N's at positions                                                  25-29                                                                         (ix) FEATURE:                                                                 (D) OTHER INFORMATION: N at position 16 is paired                             with N at position 17                                                         (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:83:                                      NNNNNUUGAGAUACANNUGGACUCNNNNN29                                               __________________________________________________________________________

We claim:
 1. An improved nucleic acid ligand, wherein said improvementis produced by modifying a nucleic acid ligand to have at least one ofthe following improved properties: decreased size, enhanced stability,or enhanced binding affinity, said nucleic acid ligand being a ligand ofa given target, said improved nucleic acid identified by the methodcomprising the steps of:a) contacting a candidate mixture of nucleicacids with the target, wherein nucleic acids having an increasedaffinity to the target relative to the candidate mixture may bepartitioned from the remainder of the candidate mixture; b) partitioningthe increased affinity nucleic acids from the remainder of the candidatemixture; c) amplifying the increased affinity nucleic acids to yield aligand-enriched mixture of nucleic acids; d) repeating steps a)-c), asnecessary, to identify a nucleic acid ligand; e) modifying the nucleicacid ligand of step d), wherein said modifying comprises adding,deleting, or substituting nucleotide residues, wherein said residues maybe chemically modified, and/or chemically modifying said nucleic acidligand; and f) determining whether the modified nucleic acid ligand ofstep e) has at least one of the improved properties relative to thenucleic acid ligand of step d), whereby said improved nucleic acidligand may be identified.
 2. The improved nucleic acid ligand of claim 1wherein step e) comprises preparing an improved nucleic acid ligand thatis identical to the nucleic acid ligand of step d) except for a singleresidue substitution.
 3. The improved nucleic acid ligand of claim 1wherein step e) comprises preparing an improved nucleic acid ligand thatis identical to the nucleic acid ligand of step d) except for thedeletion of one or more terminal residues.
 4. The improved nucleic acidligand of claim 1 wherein step e) comprises preparing an improvednucleic acid ligand by chemically modifying the nucleic acid ligand ofstep d).
 5. The improved nucleic acid ligand of claim 1 wherein in stepe) the nucleic acid ligand of step d) is modified while in contact withthe target.
 6. An improved nucleic acid ligand, wherein said improvementis produced by modifying a nucleic acid ligand to have at least one ofthe following improved properties: decreased size, enhanced stability,or enhanced binding affinity, said nucleic acid ligand being a ligand ofa given target, said improved nucleic acid ligand identified by themethod comprising the steps of:a) contacting a candidate mixture withthe target, wherein nucleic acids having an increased affinity to thetarget relative to the candidate mixture may be partitioned from theremainder of the candidate mixture; b) partitioning the increasedaffinity nucleic acids from the remainder of the candidate mixture; c)amplifying the increased affinity nucleic acids to yield aligand-enriched mixture of nucleic acids; d) repeating steps a)-c) asnecessary to identify said nucleic acid ligand; e) determining thethree-dimensional structure of said nucleic acid ligand; f) modifyingthe nucleic acid ligand of step d) based on the determinedthree-dimensional structure of the nucleic acid ligand, wherein saidmodifying comprises adding, deleting, or substituting nucleotideresidues, wherein said residues may be chemically modified, and/orchemically modifying said nucleic acid ligand; and g) determiningwhether the modified nucleic acid ligand of step f) has improvedproperties relative to the nucleic acid of step d), whereby saidimproved nucleic acid ligand may be identified.
 7. The improved nucleicacid ligand of claim 6 wherein in step e) the threedimensional structureof the nucleic acid ligand is determined by:i) chemically modifyingdenatured and nondenatured nucleic acid ligand; and ii) determiningwhich nucleotide residues are modified in the denatured nucleic acidligand that are not modified in the nondenatured nucleic acid ligand. 8.The improved nucleic acid ligand of claim 6 wherein in each of steps d)and e), said nucleic acid ligand comprises a plurality of nucleic acidligands, and in step e) the three-dimensional structure of the nucleicacid ligand is determined by covariance analysis on said plurality ofnucleic acid ligands of step d).
 9. An improved nucleic acid ligand to agiven target, wherein said improved nucleic acid ligand is designed froma plurality of nucleic acid ligands, wherein said improved nucleic acidligand has at least one of the following improved properties: decreasedsize, enhanced stability, or enhanced binding affinity, and wherein saidimproved nucleic acid ligand is identified by the method comprising thesteps of:a) determining the three dimensional structure of said nucleicacid ligands; b) determining the nucleic acid residues of said nucleicacid ligands that bind to said target; and c) designing said improvednucleic acid ligand to said target, wherein said improved properties areobtained by modifying said nucleic acid ligand by adding, deleting, orsubstituting nucleotide residues based on said determinations made insteps a) and b) and wherein said added or substituted nucleotideresidues may be chemically modified, whereby an improved nucleic acidligand may be identified.
 10. An improved nucleic acid ligand having atleast one of the following improved properties: decreased size, enhancedstability, or enhanced binding affinity, said nucleic acid ligand beinga ligand of a given target, said improved nucleic acid identified by themethod comprising the steps of:(a) contacting a candidate mixture ofnucleic acids with said target, wherein nucleic acids having anincreased affinity to the target relative to the candidate mixture maybe partitioned from the remainder of the candidate mixture; (b)partitioning the increased affinity nucleic acids from the remainder ofthe candidate mixture; (c) amplifying the increased affinity nucleicacids to yield a ligand-enriched mixture of nucleic acids; (d) repeatingsteps (a)-(c), as necessary, to identify a nucleic acid ligand; (e)determining the three-dimensional structure of said nucleic acid ligand;(f) determining the nucleic acid residues of the nucleic acid ligandthat are necessary to bind to said target; and (g) designing saidimproved ligand to said target, wherein said improved properties areobtained by modifying said nucleic acid ligand by adding, deleting, orsubstituting nucleotide residues based on said determinations made insteps e) and f) and wherein said added or substituted nucleotideresidues may be chemically modified, whereby said improved nucleic acidligand may be designed.
 11. The improved nucleic acid ligand of claim 1wherein step e) comprises the substitution of chemically modifiednucleotides in the nucleic acid ligand of step d).
 12. The improvednucleic acid ligand of claim 11 wherein said chemically modifiednucleotides are selected from the group consisting of 5-positionmodified pyrimidines, 8-position modified purines, 2'-modifiednucleotides or combinations thereof.
 13. The improved nucleic acidligand of claim 11 wherein step e) comprises the substitution of a2'-modified nucleotide for its respective 2'-OH nucleotide in thenucleic acid ligand of step d).
 14. The improved nucleic acid ligand ofclaim 13 wherein said 2'-modified nucleotide is selected from the groupconsisting of 2'-F nucleotides, 2'-NH₂ nucleotides, and 2'-O-Methylnucleotides.
 15. The improved nucleic acid ligand of claim 1 whereinstep e) comprises the addition of nucleotides to the 5' end of thenucleic acid ligand of step d), the 3' end of the nucleic acid ligand ofstep d), or both.
 16. The improved nucleic acid ligand of claim 1wherein the improved property determined in step f) is enhanced bindingaffinity for the target.
 17. The improved nucleic acid ligand of claim 1wherein the improved property determined in step f) is enhancedstability.
 18. The improved nucleic acid ligand of claim 17 wherein saidimproved property of enhanced stability is determined by resistance todegradation in situ.
 19. The improved nucleic acid ligand of claim 17wherein said improved enhanced stability is determined by decreasedclearance in situ.
 20. The improved nucleic acid ligand of claim 17wherein said improved property of enhanced stability is determined byreduced nucleic acid content relative to the unimproved nucleic acidligand.
 21. The improved nucleic acid ligand of claim 1 wherein theimproved property determined in step f) is decreased size.
 22. Theimproved nucleic acid ligand of claim 21 wherein said improved nucleicacid ligand having said decreased size property retains binding affinityfor the target.
 23. The improved nucleic acid ligand of claim 21 whereinsaid improved nucleic acid ligand having said decreased size propertyhas enhanced binding affinity for the target.
 24. An improved nucleicacid ligand having at least one of the following improved properties;decreased size, enhanced stability, or enhanced binding affinity,wherein said improved nucleic acid ligand is designed from a pluralityof unimproved nucleic acid ligands, wherein said improved nucleic acidligand is identified by the method comprising the steps of:a) contactinga candidate mixture with a target, wherein nucleic acids having anincreased affinity to the target relative to the candidate mixture maybe partitioned from the remainder of the candidate mixture; b)partitioning the increased affinity nucleic acids from the remainder ofthe candidate mixture; c) amplifying the increased affinity nucleicacids to yield a ligand-enriched mixture of nucleic acids; d) repeatingsteps a)-c) as necessary to identify said nucleic acid ligands; e)determining the consensus primary structure of said nucleic acidligands; f) designing an improved nucleic acid ligand by adding,deleting, or substituting nucleotide residues based on the determinedconsensus primary structure of the nucleic acid ligands of step d); andg) determining whether the improved nucleic acid ligand of step f) hasimproved properties relative to the nucleic acid ligands of step d),whereby said improved nucleic acid ligand may be identified.
 25. Theimproved nucleic acid ligand of claim 24 wherein said improved nucleicacid ligand of step f) is designed by deleting a portion of thenucleotides that are not part of the consensus primary structure.
 26. Animproved nucleic acid ligand having at least one of the followingimproved properties: decreased size, enhanced stability, or enhancedbinding affinity, wherein said improved nucleic acid ligand is designedfrom a plurality of unimproved nucleic acid ligands, wherein saidimproved nucleic acid ligand is identified by the method comprising thesteps of:a) contacting a candidate mixture with a target, whereinnucleic acids having an increased affinity to the target relative to thecandidate mixture may be partitioned from the remainder of the candidatemixture; b) partitioning the increased affinity nucleic acids from theremainder of the candidate mixture; c) amplifying the increased affinitynucleic acids to yield a ligand-enriched mixture of nucleic acids; d)repeating steps a)-c) as necessary to identify said nucleic acidligands; e) determining the consensus secondary structure of saidnucleic acid ligand; f) designing an improved nucleic acid ligand byadding, deleting or substituting nucleotide residues based on saidconsensus secondary structure, wherein said residues may be chemicallymodified based on the determined consensus secondary structure of thenucleic acid ligands of step d); and g) determining whether the improvednucleic acid ligand of step f) has improved properties relative to thenucleic acid ligands of step d), whereby said improved nucleic acidligand may be identified.
 27. The improved nucleic acid ligand of claim26 wherein said improved nucleic acid ligand of step f) is designed bydeleting a portion of the nucleotides that are not part of the consensussecondary structure.
 28. The improved nucleic acid ligand of claim 26wherein said nucleic acid ligand in step e) comprises a plurality ofnucleic acid ligands and the consensus secondary structure is determinedby covariance analysis.